Harry Potter and the War Against Voldemort
by hermyd
Summary: On that crucial night, Sirius Black made the decision to talk with Dumbledore before he went after Wormtail. Now Harry was raised with someone who loved him and things are very different. The Boy Who Lived will fight a very differnt war this time around.
1. Wormtail's Betrayal

Sirius Black was nervous. It had been several days since he had heard from Wormtail, and as his friend was now responsible for the safety of Lily and James he had expected almost daily updates. Of course, this was Wormtail. He was notorious for forgetting to do the important things in life. When they were practicing the animagus transformation during school they had had to appoint Moony as Wormtail's guardian. He had to be reminded to practice every day for the first year. And then when he finally started to practice on his own he had to be reminded to not do so alone. It took three rather painful partial transformations that he couldn't get himself out of before this lesson sunk in. But this was different. This was the lives of the three most important people in the world, at least in Sirius' world. Thus it was that Sirius decided to go check on Wormtail that afternoon. Having decided that he would just go in his robes—it was Halloween, there were lots of people out in robes and capes—Sirius was content to ride his bike over, as opposed to flying it. He wasn't concerned enough to need to hurry.

Sirius had ridden to Wormtail's hiding spot several times since the Fidelius charm had been performed last week. So when he rode in and didn't feel the wards that he himself had created, he got worried. He jumped off the bike and ran into the small house.

There was no one there.

Sirius Black, Marauder, play boy, and fearless member of the Order of the Phoenix, was terrified. Wormtail had strict instructions never to leave. No one may have known that he was the Potter's secret keeper, but they certainly knew he was a friend. It was too dangerous for him to be seen. Turning hastily around, Sirius ran to his motorbike. Screw the Statue of Secrecy, he had to get to Godric' Hollow. Immediately.

The Muggle woman who saw a young man dressed in robes jump on a motorbike and take off into the air put the sight down to some kind of Halloween prank and moved on with her shopping.

Sirius saw the smoke before he could even see the house. When he landed he didn't even turn off the engine, instead launching himself at the house. There in the front room his worst nightmare came true. Lying on the floor, his eyes glassy in death, was Prongs. Sirius collapsed next to his best friend and brother in everything but name. For the first time since he was a little boy he broke down and cried over the body. He had failed them, and now Prongs was dead.

It took several long minutes for Sirius to realize that while Prongs was dead he still needed to find Lily and Harry. He owed it to his best friend to take care of them if he could. It seemed to take years for him to climb the stairs; he was so scared of what he would find. He could see the smoke billowing out of Harry's room, and he had little hope. Voldemort would not have left his godson alive.

Lying on the floor of Harry's room, Sirius found Lily with the glassy eyes of death. Sirius could see her hand clutching something through the bars of the crib. Even in death Lily refused to let go of her son. Needing to see it all, Sirius walked shakily to the crib, knowing he would find his godson, the only hope for the wizarding world, lying dead.

He looked over the edge to find bright green eyes staring back at him.

"Siri!"

Sirius collapsed against the crib, the sight of Harry, alive and reaching for his favorite uncle, was too much. More tears fell, but this time they were tears of joy. Harry had survived. And Sirius would not fail Prongs again. He would take care of Harry in place of his lost best friend.

"Siri?" Harry's small hand was tugging on the hair of his godfather. Shaking, Sirius looked up.

"Hey kiddo. Uncle Sirius is here." He reached down and pulled Harry into his arms. It was only then that Sirius noticed the cut across Harry's forehead. It was shaped like a bolt of lightning.

"Siri? Where Mommy?"

"She's not here, kiddo, but Uncle Sirius is going to take care of you. Don't you worry."

Shielding Harry by keeping the boy's head tucked into his chest, Sirius carried him out of the room. He didn't want Harry to have to see his mother on the floor. The boy was too young to understand. Sirius was on the stairs when he heard a commotion in the front room. Someone had come for Harry. But Sirius was not going to let any harm come to his godson. He was the only thing left of Prongs and Lily. His wand held firmly in front of him, he advanced carefully into the sitting room.

"Get out you bastards! You can't have him."

"Sirius!" The large form of Hagrid was bent over James' body, checking if he was alive. Sirius visibly relaxed. Hagrid was one of the exceptionally few people in the world that he knew without a doubt was on the side of good. "You have Harry!"

"Yes. And I'm taking him home. I won't let anyone else hurt him."

"Sirius, Professor Dumbledore sen' me to get him. Says Harry needs to go to his family to protec' him."

"No. He's my godson. I will protect him."

"Sirius, I know how upse' you mus' be. But the Professor was pretty sure abou' it. Harry has to go to his family."

Sirius hesitated for a few seconds. He knew that Dumbledore would not risk Harry's life by placing him where he wasn't safe. But Sirius had no intention of letting Petunia raise Harry. He had heard the stories of her and her husband from Lily. And yet, Sirius knew that Dumbledore thought he was the secret keeper. If he tried to take Harry know he would probably wake up in the morning to find Dumbledore's wand trained on him. He would have to talk to Dumbledore first.

"Okay, Hagrid. But will you take a note to Dumbledore for me?"

"Sure, Sirius. Leas' I can do."

Sirius handed Harry gently over to Hagrid, then hastily scribbled a note and handed it to the large man. "Take my bike, Hagrid. And make sure Harry gets there safely. I'm going to take care of some things here."

Hagrid clapped a large hand on his shoulder, evidently thinking he was comforting Sirius instead of practically driving him to his knees. Sirius watched him fly off into the night before setting his shoulders and turning back to the fallen form of his best friend. He was going to collect as many things as he could for Harry from the house. He wanted Harry to remember his parents and know how much they loved him, but there was no way Sirius was going to set foot in this house again. His mind made up, Sirius prowled through the house; collecting all the things he thought Harry might want later on.

* * *

Hagrid was appalled to see the James Potter lying dead on the floor. He should not have had to die. But You-Know-Who didn't care who he was killing. At least Harry had survived, even if he wasn't completely unscathed. Hagrid was quite relieved when the gash on Harry's forehead had shown no signs of bleeding. He didn't think it was safe to take Harry to St. Mungo's. The little boy in his arms didn't seem to know what had happened today. Hagrid guessed that Sirius had intentionally kept Harry from seeing the dead body of his father and mother. Good thing, too. Harry was going to have a hard enough time without those memories. Harry seemed happy at the moment; he had fallen asleep just as they were flying over Bristol. He wish he could have left Harry with Sirius. Better Sirius raising Harry than Muggles. But Dumbledore had been very specific. He was to get Harry and bring him to Little Whinging. And Dumbledore always knew best.

With a roar Hagrid brought the motorbike down onto the street in front of a waiting Professor Dumbledore.

"Hagrid, at last. And where did you get that motorcycle?"

"Borrowed it, Professor Dumbledore, sir. Young Sirius Black lent it to me." The Professor's face went hard at that, but Hagrid didn't understand why it would upset him. Perhaps he was imagining the anger in the Professor's eyes. "I've got him, sir."

"No problems, were there?"

"No, sir—house was almost destroyed, but Sirius was there when I got there, and he let me have Harry."

"Sirius Black was there? With Harry?" Hagrid didn't think he was imagining the anger in the Professor's eyes this time.

"Yes, sir. Sirius said he was goin' to take Harry home. But I told him how it was you who sen' me. Sirius gave him too me then, but he aske' me if I could give you this."

Hagrid handed the hastily scribbled note to Dumbledore, who immediately opened it.

I'll be coming for Harry soon. James would want me to take care of his son. I expect you have some questions for me. I'll meet you at Hogwarts as soon as Harry is safe. Might want to ask Slughorn for some Veritaserum. I doubt you'll believe me without it.

Professor Dumbledore's bushy eyebrows rose in question. He doubted there was anything that Sirius Black could tell him that would keep the young man out of Azkaban. Dumbledore knew that he had been the secret keeper for Lily's Fidelius charm. Only he could have betrayed the Potter's to Voldemort tonight. And yet, Sirius knew all this and still believed that there was something he could say that would change Dumbledore's mind. Then there was the request for Veritaserum. Maybe it was possible that there was another explanation. He would have to ask Horace for some immediately.

* * *

It was barely an hour later that Dumbledore heard the knock on his door. He turned to Fawkes.

"He must not be allowed to leave without my permission."

The phoenix dipped his head as if nodding and disappeared in a ball of flame. Once the phoenix was away, Dumbledore pulled out his wand and trained it on the door.

"Come in, Sirius."

The black-haired young man pushed open the door. But instead of reacting to the wand trained on him or walking in his typical arrogant manner, he stood in the door, eyes red and wet. He looked up at Dumbledore, barely even acknowledging the fact that the most powerful wizard on the planet had his wand trained on him, then finally made his way in to the office and slumped in a chair, despair written on every feature of his face.

"I know what you think," his words were hoarse and barely audible, as if he had been screaming for so long he had no voice left. "But hear me out first. Then I won't even stop you."

As if in testament of this fact, he placed his wand on the Headmaster's desk before picking up the goblet of clear liquid sitting there.

"Veritaserum?"

"Yes. Luckily Horace always keeps a supply ready."

Sirius nodded and tipped the goblet back, draining the whole thing before once more slumping into his seat. Dumbledore waited a half a minute for the potion to take effect before he began.

"Did you betray Lily and James Potter?"

"Yes."

"Why? What could Voldemort possibly have offered you that would have made up for the loss of your best friend and his wife?"

"I didn't betray them to Voldemort."

"But you said…"

"I betrayed them to Peter. I convinced James that the best way to keep them safe was to change secret keepers at the last minute. No one but me would know that Peter really was the secret keeper, and Lily and James would be safe."

"You were not the secret keeper?"

"No. Peter Pettigrew is the bastard who gave them to Voldemort. And I told them to trust him."

Albus Dumbledore, the only wizard that Voldemort ever feared, was completely astonished. There was no way around the fact that Sirius Black had confessed under Veritaserum that it was not he who had betrayed the Potter's, but instead little Peter Pettigrew. Dumbledore would never have thought it possible that Peter was the spy. Quite honestly, he didn't think that Peter was capable of deceiving him for so long.

"How is it possible that Peter Pettigrew was able to mislead me for so long?"

"He's done it before. We all have."

"What do you mean?"

"We became illegal animagi our fifth year in order to keep Remus company on the full moons. You never found out."

"Peter Pettigrew is an illegal animagus?"

"Yes."

"What form does he take?"

"A rat. Seems oddly fitting now."

Albus stared at the tortured young man in front of him. It was clear that Sirius blamed himself for Peter's betrayal. It was also clear that he would do anything for Harry. There was no other reason why he would willingly be here. And he certainly would never have revealed such a secret before. Perhaps it was time to reconsider Harry's new home. Certainly he would receive much more care and love from Sirius than he could possibly receive from the Dursleys. They hated the very idea of magic.

"Very well, Sirius. I believe you." Sirius nodded, but the tortured look on his face did not subside. "There are some things we need to discuss. First of all, you need to stop blaming yourself for the death of Lily and James. It is not your fault."

"Yes it is."

"No, Sirius. It is Voldemort that killed them and Peter who betrayed them. You were a good friend. You willingly put your own safety above theirs by even pretending to be their secret keeper. You are no more to blame than I am." Sirius did not appear to believe him, but Albus let it go for now. "Secondly, I imagine that you wish to go after Peter."

"Of course. The rat is going to pay."

"Yes, he will. But I would advise you to leave his capture to me. With this information you have told me it should be easier to find him. And he will not be expecting me to recognize him in his animagus form. He will not be on his guard."

"I want to kill the bastard."

"Yes, I imagine you do. But think of Harry. He just lost his parents. If you kill Peter, Harry will lose his godfather as well. You will not do him much good in a cell in Azkaban." Sirius stared at the floor for several long minutes before nodding once.

"Fine. But you better find him. And soon. He must pay."

"I agree. Lastly, I imagine that you would like to take Harry."

"Yes. It is the only thing left I can do for Prongs and Lily."

"I thought as much. But before I can let you take Harry we must ensure that you will both be well protected. There are those out there who will be coming for the two of you."

"I know. I can't even afford a place to live."

"I believe that we can resolve this issue. With you being Harry's legal guardian I can release the Potter vault to your control. It may take several days for us to get a location secure, so we should probably leave Harry where he is until then. He is safe there."

"As long as we hurry. I will not leave him there any longer than I have to."

"Have you considered which protection spells you will use?"

"Yes." Sirius looked up at him, meeting his eyes for the first time since walking in to the office. "Be our secret keeper?"

"I will indeed. I would be honored. Is there anyone you wish me to tell of your location?"

"Remus. He deserves to know. And he deserves an apology. We should never have suspected him."

"Very well. Why don't you get some rest. I will make all the necessary arrangements in the morning."

"I don't need to rest. I'm going to watch after Harry."

Albus nodded at him. He had suspected as much. Opening the drawer to his left he withdrew a square of shimming fabric. "Then take this, I'm sure James would want it used to protect his son."

Sirius took it gratefully. "Will you tell me why you had it in the first place?"

"I wanted to examine it," Albus answered, with a slight frown on his face. "I will tell you the story someday." He seemed to think for a minute. "And soon you and I will have to have a discussion. If you are going to raise Harry you will need to know everything about the prophecy. I think it best to keep it from Harry for several years."

"I'm not even going to tell him who he is until he is older and ready. He deserves a normal childhood. At least as normal as I can give him."

"I couldn't agree more."

Sirius thanked Dumbledore once more, than threw the cloak over his shoulders and disappeared from view. He had a house to watch.

A/N: The characters, and some of the dialogue, in this story are not my own. I just wanted a chance to play with the idea of what would have happened if one crucial decision had been made differently—if Sirius went to Dumbledore before he went after Wormtail. All the best parts of this story belong to JK Rowling.


	2. 13 Midnight Lane

Two weeks had passed and little Harry Potter lay huddled in the cupboard under the stairs of the Dursley's home. Harry didn't understand what was going on in his life. He missed his parents, and Uncle Sirius who had promised to take care of him hadn't come for him. He didn't like the people here. There was a very large man who liked to yell at him and hit him. Harry had learned to avoid the large man. There was a thin blonde woman who never talked to him. In fact, she ignored that he was even there. The only thing that let him know that she actually acknowledged his existence was the small plate of foot she left by his cupboard three times a day. But worst of all was the large boy that lived in the house. He was loud and always screaming. He always gave Harry headaches. And he liked to poke and pinch Harry. Harry wished that someone would come for him. But he had been left all alone for what felt forever. It seemed to him that his Mommy and Daddy must not love him anymore.

It was Harry who first heard the large pounding on the door. But he didn't dare look to see who it was. The large man was home and Harry didn't want to be hit. But Harry did listen carefully, hoping that it was someone coming to take him away.

"I've come for Harry."

The voice barely filtered in to the cupboard, but Harry recognized it. Pulling open the door he launched himself at the dark-haired man standing in the door.

"Siri!"

"Hey kiddo!" Sirius leaned down and picked Harry up into his arms. "Sorry I couldn't come sooner." Harry looked up at Sirius with confusion in his eyes.

"Where Mommy?"

The tall wizard visibly shook at the question. His godson, not even eighteen months old, was too young to understand the answer to that question.

"She had to go away for a long time, Harry. But Uncle Sirius is going to take care of you now."

"Why Siri leave me?"

"I had to, kiddo. Had to make sure that you could come live with me. You do want to come live with me?"

"Yes!" Harry wrapped his small arms around Sirius' neck. "Harry luv Siri."

"I love you, too, kiddo."

"Don't know why anyone would love a freak like him," Vernon muttered from the living room where he had retreated when he saw the wand clenched in Sirius' hand. Sirius heard him, and stalked into the room.

"You, Vernon Dursley, don't understand what it is to truly love someone. I would hate you only you are too far beneath my notice. I am taking Harry away, and you will never see him again. You don't know what a great kid you are missing out on."

"Wish you would have taken him two weeks ago. Then I wouldn't have to decontaminate my house from the freak being here."

Sirius roared in outrage and leveled his wand at the man in front of him.

"You should be grateful that I'm only here for Harry. I should kill you for how you've treated him. Instead I'm just going to have to leave you something to remember me by." He muttered under his breath and an orange light shot out at Vernon. Smirking at the livid man in front of him, Sirius turned and walked out the door.

"Come on, kiddo," he said to Harry, who was watching in shock as his uncle turned into a large gray animal. "Let's go home."

Harry happily hugged his godfather, glad to be leaving the place forever. And Sirius was thankful that Harry didn't seem to have any permanent damage done to him. Every spare minute in the last two weeks that wasn't taken up with securing their new home and speaking to Dumbledore Sirius had stood guard outside the Dursley home, hidden under the invisibility cloak. He had watched as the Dursleys had mistreated Harry, unable to do anything about it until he had a safe place for them to go to. He had had to stop himself countless times from marching in and hexing both of them for hurting Harry. But Dumbledore had told him that he was not allowed to interfere. They didn't want to draw anyone's attention to the fact that Harry Potter was living there. A visit from the Ministry of Magic would have been disastrous. So Sirius had watched and fumed, glad that he had listened to Dumbledore and not gone after Pettigrew himself. Harry needed him more than he needed revenge.

The tall wizard and small boy appeared out of thin air down a small country lane. In front of them was a small cottage nestled among the trees. Dumbledore had recommended the location. It was remote enough that no one would think to look there. Over the past two weeks the Headmaster had placed every protection and concealment charm he could think of on the small house. And tonight he was waiting for them in order to add the final level of protection.

"Any trouble, Sirius?"

"I may have turned Vernon Dursley into the Hippo he so strongly resembled." Albus looked at him with twinkling eyes. "He called Harry a freak. He deserved it."

"I'm sure he did. But on to more important matters. Everything is ready for the spell. Shall we?"

Sirius nodded and pulled out his wand. He muttered several incantations until a silver light seemed to surround the Headmaster. Then Sirius guided Harry's small hand until he, too, was touching the wand. Ignoring the questioning look coming from Harry, Sirius whispered the last phrase. "The residence of Harry Potter and Sirius Black is 13 Midnight Lane. The location of Midnight Lane is Fernworthy Forest in the county of Devon."

The light changed to a brilliant white before quickly dissipating, causing Harry to hide his face against Sirius' shoulder. Instantly, the cottage before them disappeared from view along with the lane they were standing on. To Sirius, it now appeared that he was standing in the middle of an uninhabited forest. He could even hear a small stream nearby. Turning to the wizard in front of him he beamed, "it worked! I can't see a thing."

"Good. Now let me introduce you to your new home. You are standing on Midnight Lane in Fernworthy Forest, Devon," Sirius' surroundings shifted to once more reveal the road he was standing on, "and your home is 13 Midnight Lane." The cottage once more came in to view. "I will let the two of you get settled. In a day or two I will come and check up on you, and bring Remus Lupin with me. He is most anxious to see you both again."

Harry watched with wide eyes as the tall man with the long beard walked down the lane and then turned and vanished into thin air. Then he looked back up at his godfather. Sirius was grinning down at him.

"Welcome to our home, kiddo. Let's go find your room."

They walked into the cottage and Harry looked eagerly around. The front room held a small couch and several large chairs that surrounded the fireplace. On the mantelpiece above the fireplace Harry could see several photographs. He could just make out his parents waving at him from the closest one. There were two doors off of this room, one that seemed to lead to a kitchen and the other that led in to a small hallway. Sirius took him down the hall and showed him a bathroom. Then he opened a door that led to a large bedroom.

"This is my room. You can come in and get me whenever you need anything at all." Then Sirius took him through the last door in the hall. "This will be your room."

Harry looked around happily. It looked just like his room in his house. There were brooms and bears dancing around the walls and a large crib in the corner standing under the window. Harry could even see his favorite toys scattered around on the floor. It felt just like home.

"How about a story, kiddo."

"Babbity, Siri, Babbity!"

"Okay, Babbity Rabbity and her Cackling Stump it is." Sirius sat down in the rocking chair in the corner and cradled Harry against him. "A long time ago, in a far-off land, there lived a foolish king…"

* * *

For nearly ten years, Sirius Black and Harry Potter lived happily in their little cottage. Harry never knew that he was famous, and they usually only left the house to play in the forest that surrounded them. Uncle Albus came to visit every week for dinner and he would tell Harry stories until Harry fell asleep by the fire, then Albus and Sirius would talk. They discussed the wizarding world and Voldemort; they talked about the Prophecy and how they were going to prepare Harry for the war that was going to start again someday. Uncle Remus came to visit even more often. He was the one who brought them things when they were needed, and together he and Sirius told Harry all the stories they could remember of Lily and James Potter.

Harry Potter was a lucky little boy. He grew up surrounded by three uncles who loved him and constantly told him the stories of his brave parents who had died fighting the evil man Voldemort. For his fourth birthday Harry was given a broomstick, and then almost every day he and Sirius would go flying. Uncle Sirius and Uncle Remus taught him many things. They taught him to read and write, and they taught him the history of wizards. They taught him that all good wizards are supposed to fight dark wizards to make the world safer, and they taught him how one day he, too, would get to fight to protect the world. They taught him about the Marauders, and how when he was eleven he would get to go to Hogwarts and start a new generation of Marauders. They taught him how to get away with good pranks, and laughed whenever he was able to prank them.

Sometimes, Uncle Sirius and Uncle Remus would take him for a walk in to the villages nearby. Harry loved to watch the Muggles and learn about how they were able to live without magic. He would get to play with the other kids in the park, always watched closely by his uncles.

On Harry's eleventh birthday he woke to the sound of Sirius yelling from the kitchen.

"Harry! You're Hogwarts letter is here!"

Harry raced out of the room. He was so excited to get to go to Hogwarts this year, though he was a little sad that he had to leave Uncle Sirius and their little cottage. But the best part was that today was his birthday and Uncle Sirius had promised to take him to get his school things today. He was going to get a wand!

Sitting on the kitchen table waiting for him was the envelope addressed in emerald green ink to Mr. H. Potter, 13 Midnight Lane, Fernworthy Forest, Devon. He eagerly pulled out the letter and read:

HOWARTS SCHOOL

Of WITCHCRAFT and WIZARDRY

Headmaster: Albus Dumbledore

_(Order of Merlin, First Class, Grand Sorc., Chf. Warlock,_

_Supreme Mugwump, International Confed. of Wizards)_

Dear Mr. Potter,

We are pleased to inform you that you have been accepted at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Please find enclosed a list of all necessary books and equipment.

Term begins on September 1. We await your owl no later than July 31.

Yours Sincerely,

Minerva McGonagall,

_Deputy Headmistress_

"Uncle Sirius! I got in to Hogwarts!"

"Of course you did, Harry. You always knew you would. Especially given the number of times that you have made me look ridiculous with some bit of accidental magic or other." Sirius sat down across from Harry. "But there are some things we need to talk about before you go to Hogwarts."

"I know. I'm supposed to prank Snape whenever I can, become a Gryffindor if I don't want you to be extremely disappointed in me, and study really hard so that I can be an Auror like Dad was."

"Those are all really good things, Harry, but that is not what I mean." Sirius pulled his hands through his hair in frustration. "It's time to tell you why your parents really died."

"But Voldemort killed Mom and Dad."

"Yes, he did. But that isn't the whole story. He killed them because they were trying to protect you." Harry sat and looked at Sirius, confusion on his face. "Before you were born Uncle Albus was in a meeting when a prophecy was made. It's not important exactly what it said right now, all you need to know is that it said that you would be the only one who would have the power to defeat Voldemort.

"So to protect you, your parents went in to hiding. They were protected by the same spell that keeps are cottage hidden, but the secret keeper was a man named Peter Pettigrew. He was one of the Marauders at school with us, and we thought he was our friend. But he betrayed your parents to Voldemort and so Voldemort came to kill you. He killed your Mom and Dad, but when he tried to kill you the curse he used bounced back on to him instead."

Sirius watched as Harry's face slowly lost all its color. He hadn't wanted to lay this burden on one so young, but it was unavoidable if Harry was going to attend Hogwarts this year. Harry struggled for several minutes, as if unsure what was the most pressing question to ask.

"So I killed him. Isn't that what was supposed to happen?"

"Not quite. He didn't die. Uncle Albus says he is hiding in Albania right now, but some day he will be coming back. And then it will be up to you to get rid of him and make the world safe once more."

Harry sat staring at his hands for a long time, and Sirius was beginning to wish that he had had Albus tell Harry. Or that they could have put off this discussion for several more years. Harry was so young to have the weight of the world on his shoulders. Finally, Harry looked up with tears in his bright green eyes.

"Voldemort killed Mom and Dad. I would have wanted to fight him anyways. Now I just have another reason. I don't want to let him hurt anyone else."

Sirius stood up and walked around the table so that he could pull Harry in for a hug. He held him for a long time, before pulling back and looking at him with pride in his eyes.

"I thought you would say that."

He pulled Harry in to the sitting room and sat him down on the couch. Then he began pacing in front of the fireplace.

"I didn't tell you because I wanted you to have a chance for a childhood, but you can't go off to Hogwarts not knowing. No one else knows about the Prophecy, but everyone in the wizarding world knows who you are. They are all going to recognize you and want to meet you. They think you got rid of Voldemort for good. They don't know he is going to come back. I don't want you to tell anyone about the Prophecy, at least not yet. I want you to make friends and learn and not have to worry about it for several more years."

Harry looked up at his godfather, and Sirius watched as the boy grew up before his eyes. He was not a kid anymore. He knew why he had to fight and he accepted the fact that he would. "But I need to be ready."

"Yes, you do. I've got some books for you that I want you to read, and once we get you a wand I am going to show you a few things. But remember, Harry. It is okay to be prepared, but don't spend all your time thinking about this. You still get to be a kid. You can still enjoy all your time at Hogwarts."

"I know, Uncle Sirius." He seemed to be struggling with something. "But am I going to be able to win?"

"Course you are, kid. Remus and I are going to help you learn as much as you can. And Uncle Albus is going to help you while you're at Hogwarts. We are going to teach you so much that when it comes the time to fight back Voldemort won't stand a chance."

Harry hugged his godfather one more time, and Sirius breathed a small sigh of relief. He knew that Harry hadn't really taken it in yet, but he was glad that Harry seemed to accept it so well.

"Come on, kid. It's time to go to Diagon Alley." Distractions had always worked well on James.

"Yes! Can I get an owl? Then I can write you all the time about the pranks I'm doing."

"Knew you were a Marauder. We'll have to get you the best owl they have. Now go get dressed. It's time you were introduced to the fame that comes with being the Boy Who Lived."

"They call me the Boy Who Lived?"

"Sure do."

"Why can't they just call me Harry?"

"No idea, kid, no idea."

* * *

For the first time in ten years, Harry was going to voluntarily enter the wizarding world. And Sirius was terrified about it. He didn't want Harry's first trip to the Alley to be marred by too many stares and well-wishers, so when Harry came down dressed in Muggle clothes Sirius added a hat that he pulled down low over the scar on Harry's forehead. Then the wizard and boy took the floo powder to the Leaky Cauldron. It was time for Harry to renter the world that he was destined to save.


	3. Meeting the Weasleys

When Harry came out of the fireplace in the small pub, Sirius was waiting to catch him and quickly push him out the back door. If they couldn't even get out of the pub without generating attention there was no hope that they would make it through the day without someone recognizing Harry. Once in the small courtyard, Sirius enjoyed the wide-eyed look on Harry's face as the entrance to Diagon Alley opened up before them. They walked down the street, Harry excitedly pointing out many of the things in the shop windows. Not surprisingly, the first store that Harry insisted they enter was Quality Quidditch Supplies. Sirius had no doubt that Harry would soon be following in his father's footsteps as one of the best Quidditch players Hogwarts has ever seen, but it wasn't time for that yet.

"Harry, you already have a good broom. Besides, you aren't even allowed to bring it with you this year."

"Can't I sneak it in, Uncle Sirius?"

"Not a chance, kiddo. You can suffer like the rest of us had to."

"But look at the new Nimbus. It's supposed to be lots faster than my Cleansweep."

"I'm sure it is. Maybe we can come back and check it out. Next year."

"Uncle Sirius!"

"Hey, I didn't make the rule. Now, I thought you wanted a wand?"

"Yes!" Harry was completely distracted from the brooms. "Let's go."

Harry grabbed Sirius' hand and dragged him out of the store and past several shops before he realized that he didn't know where he was going and allowed Sirius, laughing with mirth, to lead the way. They stopped outside a narrow and shabby shop named Ollivanders: Maker of Fine Wands since 382 BC. But Harry hesitated before going in.

"What if none of the wands choose me?"

"Don't you worry about that, kid. Ollivander can find a wand for anyone. You should have seen him trying to find a wand for me, the first Black to not be obsessed with the Dark Arts. It took him ages, and the longer it took the happier he got. He won't have any trouble with you."

Sirius nervously straightened the hat on Harry's head once more as an old man with wide eyes came in to view. Harry didn't say a word, too nervous to speak in front of the man with the strange eyes, but Sirius explained that they were looking for a wand. Then the old man started handing Harry wands to wave. It was a very long time, during which Harry was getting increasingly nervous, before Mr. Ollivander handed Harry a wand made of holly and phoenix feather. Harry knew immediately that this was the right wand. He felt a warmth flow from the wand up to the top of his arm, and when he brought the wand up it shot red and gold sparks out of the end and produced an eerie music that made Harry feel brave and good.

"Oh, bravo! Yes, indeed, oh, very good. Well, well, well… how curious… how very curious…" Mr. Ollivander began muttering to himself as he took the wand and wrapped it in paper. Harry looked at him with wide eyes.

"What's curious?" Sirius asked, his posture taking on a defensive stance.

"I remember every wand I've ever sold, Mr. Black. Every single wand. It so happens that the phoenix whose tail feather is in this wand, gave another feather—just one other. It is very curious indeed that your godson should be destined for this wand when its brother—why, its brother gave a boy about the age of your godson here a very famous lightning bolt scar."

Sirius watched the wand maker for a few minutes. "Do you know who this is, Mr. Ollivander?" The old man looked up at him, curious. In response, Harry raised his hat enough to reveal the scar on his forehead. Mr. Ollivander stared at it for several long minutes.

"Curious indeed how these things happen. The wand chooses the wizard, remember… I think we must expect great things from you, Mr. Potter…. After all, He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named did great things—terribly, yes, but great."

"He killed my parents. I don't think that is very great."

Harry didn't think he liked Mr. Ollivander. He turned sharply, intending to leave the store quickly. He was not entirely sure that it was worth putting up with the odd man in order to get a wand, despite how much he wanted one. But as he was about to exit the store he ran right in to a small girl that was entering the shop with her mother and two brothers. The two tumbled to the ground before Harry was able to stop himself. He looked up to see a boy about his age with bright red hair and blue eyes looking down at him with laughter in his eyes.

"Gin, can't you even walk in to a store without being a klutz?"

"It wasn't her fault," Harry answered the boy, "I wasn't looking were I was going." He turned to the red-headed girl beside him on the ground. "Sorry about that."

Harry pulled himself to his feet and then reached a hand down to help the small girl up as Sirius walked over and been quietly conversing with the mother. Harry offered his hand to the girl.

"My name is Harry. Sorry for knocking you over." She shook it daintily, her brown eyes looking in to his curiously.

"Hi Harry. I'm Ginny and this oaf is my brother Ron."

"Are you guys here to get wands, too?" Both red-heads blushed slightly at the question.

"No, I've got my brother Charlie's old wand," the boy, Ron, answered. "We're here because Percy wants to get his wand looked at."

"Oh." Harry felt bad for having brought the subject up, but did not want to draw more attention to it as it seemed to make them both uncomfortable. "Are you starting Hogwarts then this year?"

"I am," Ron answered, "but Ginny has one more year left."

"I'm sorry," Harry said, turning to the still blushing girl. "It would have been nice to know two people already. I've never met any wizarding kids before."

"Are you a Muggleborn then?" Ginny asked softly.

"No," Harry looked up at Sirius, as if unsure what he should say, but Sirius was still in conversation with the mother and older brother. "But we live in the forest and don't get out much."

"That's no good," she answered. "You should come over and play with us soon. It would be nice to play with someone who isn't one of my brothers."

"How many brothers do you have?"

"Six." Harry stared at the two of them.

"That's a lot. I don't have any siblings. It is just me and Sirius."

"Well, why don't you come over tomorrow? I'm sure it will be okay with Mum." Ron asked. "She never minds having a few extra kids around."

"I don't know," Harry hesitated. Sirius never let him out on his own. "I don't think I'm allowed."

"Well why don't we ask," Ginny responded instantly. She grabbed his hand and pulled him over to where the adults were talking. "Mum, can Harry come over to play tomorrow?"

"Of course dear, if that is alright with you, Sirius."

Sirius looked down at Harry and saw the pleading look in his eyes. Perhaps it was time to let him have a little bit of freedom. He could always keep watch as Padfoot.

"Sure, kiddo. I'll send Harry over the floo in the morning."

"Great!" She turned back to Harry. "Then we'll see you tomorrow." She dropped his hand and bounced off to look at the wands, leaving Harry to stare after her. He had never met such a lively girl before.

"Come on, Harry. We still have to get the rest of your supplies." Sirius took Harry's hand and then turned back to the witch in front of him. "It was a pleasure to meet you, Molly. I'll send Harry by tomorrow."

* * *

It took hours for Harry to calm down that night. He was so excited from his first trip to the Alley and from the prospect of spending tomorrow at the Weasley home. He had never known any other wizarding children and was very much looking forward to whatever the next day would bring. He was even willing to put up with Sirius' rules.

"Now remember, Harry. Keep your hat on and don't let them see your scar. It is better if they are your friends before they know who you are. And if you get into any trouble I am going to be nearby as Padfoot."

"I know, Uncle Sirius. I'll be just fine."

"Probably," Sirius agreed. "But I am still going to worry. That's my prerogative. And don't forget to be polite to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley. And try not to get any in trouble. Remember, Albus says that the Weasley twins are almost as mischievous as your father and I were in school. No telling what they might do to you tomorrow."

"Uncle Sirius," Harry asked with a sly smile, "haven't you always said that a good offense is always the best defense?"

"So I have, kid," Sirius answered with a smile. "What did you have in mind?"

"Well I was thinking about that one I got Uncle Moony with last week. Very little set up and hilarious results."

"Sounds perfect. I'll even get everything ready for you tonight. But first, I want to show you something. Do you have your wand?"

Harry nodded and pulled the holly wand out of his pocket. "But I thought I'm not allowed to use magic outside of school."

"You're not. But technically you haven't started school yet, so any magic you do is still considered accidental magic." Harry grinned at his godfather. He loved bending the rules. "Now, I want to start teaching you the disarming spell. It will be good to know if you get in to any tough situations. Should buy you a little extra time. Now, you hold your wand like this," he demonstrated with his own, "and the incantation is _Expelliarmus_. Just like this. _Expelliarmus! _Now you try."

Harry watched carefully, then waved his own wand. "_Expelliarmus_!" Nothing happened. Gritting his teeth he tried again. Still nothing. "What am I doing wrong?"

"You need to move your wrist a little bit more. Like this." Harry watched Sirius perform the motion several times. "Now try again."

"_Expelliarmus!"_ This time, a jet of light shot out of Harry's wand and impacted with the wall. "I did it! My first spell!"

"Very good, Harry. Now let's see if you can make it work on an actual target. Uncle Moony is coming over tonight and he should be here any minute. See if you can disarm him."

Harry grinned at his godfather. This was going to be fun! The two sat down to wait for Moony, Harry continuing to practice the movement with his new wand. It was several minutes before they heard the sound of footsteps on the porch.

"Hey boys! I'm home!" Moony called. This was his way of letting them know it was him. Not that there were many other people who came to visit. They heard the door begin to open and Harry spun around, his wand trained on the door.

_"Expelliarmus!"_

The jet of light collided with Remus before he even realized it was coming, and he fall backwards out the door, his wand spinning towards Harry. Harry burst in to laughter. "I did it! I disarmed Uncle Moony!"

"Very good, kiddo! Making me so proud." Sirius affectionately ruffled his hair. "Now I better check on Moony. He is going to be mad enough at me already."

Sirius walked over to Remus and watched as the werewolf sat up, looking up at him with an accusing glare.

"What happened? Why did you disarm me, Padfoot?"

"I didn't," Sirius said with a grin, "Harry did."

"Really!" Remus said, all his anger evaporated as he climbed off the floor. "That is great Harry. You're going to make one good little fighter."

"Course I am," Harry answered, a false bravado in his voice. "Someone has to take down Voldemort."

"You told him?" Remus asked Sirius.

"Had to. We went to the Alley today. Oh, and he got invited over to the Weasley's tomorrow."

"Do they know who he is?"

"Course not. They just think he is some nice boy named Harry."

"I _am_ some nice boy named Harry." Harry interjected, somewhat frustrated. He still wasn't used to the idea that he was famous.

"Never said you weren't, kiddo."

* * *

A/N: I wanted to point a few thing out that I know are going to raise questions. First of all, Ginny is much more outgoing in this story. I feel this is appropriate as in canon she is only shy because she knows who Harry is. That issue hasn't come up yet. Also, they don't ever question who Harry is because Molly assumes he shares the same last name as Sirius. This is encouraged by the fact that Harry calls Sirius uncle. Also, some people may think Harry is a little young to be able to master the disarming spell. In canon, he learned from just watching Lockhart in his second year. Also, Harry's magic is much stronger at this point as compared to canon. This is a result of the fact that he always knew he was wizard and because he had such a happy childhood. It took many years for Harry to grow into his potential in canon, that is not as much of a problem here.

That said, I hope you enjoy. I know I certainly enjoy writing it. Also, this story is probably going to run on the long side. Thus I can use all the ideas I can get. Please let me know what you think.


	4. Ginevra Molly Weasley

When Harry emerged from the floo he found himself in a rather small and ramshackle kitchen with Mrs. Weasley waiting for him. Harry could immediately tell that he would like the house, it had a lived in feel that just made him feel welcomed.

"Oh, come in, Harry dear."

"Hello, Mrs. Weasley. Thanks you again for having me over."

"Oh, it was nothing, dear. Now, why don't you head on outside. Ron and Ginny are waiting for you."

Harry made his way out the door into a large yard. He barely had time to make out the slightly over grown plants and the gnarled trees that surrounded the lawn before his attention was drawn by a shrieking redheaded missile.

"Harry! You're here!" Ginny exclaimed as she hugged him tightly.

"Course," he laughed at her exuberance, then turned to the tall boy next to her. "Hey mate."

"Hey Harry. Come on, let's go play Quidditch."

Harry grinned at Ron before following him over to the broom shed, where the three children selected brooms and took off into the air. Harry flew high enough to locate the large black dog hidden in the trees before he began a series of aerial acrobats that had both Ron and Ginny shouting in excitement. It wasn't long before Harry was showing the two of them some of the Quidditch moves that Sirius had taught him. Surprisingly, both Weasleys caught on quite quickly. Ron even remarked about how good Ginny was. Evidently, her brothers had never allowed her to play with them before. It was only Harry's presence that had worn Ron down today. The three children spent several hours flying in the sun before Mrs. Weasley called them in to lunch. As they landed, a feral grin spread across Harry's face. It was time to meet the twins. He patted his pocket, making sure the packet Sirius had prepared for him last night was still there, before following Ginny and Ron into the house.

Harry volunteered to help Ginny set the table so that he could discretely add a small amount of white powder to the glasses in front of the two identical redheaded boys. Then he sat down to enjoy the large lunch Mrs. Weasley had prepared. Her cooking was much better than Sirius', or even Remus'. It was several minutes before anything unusual happened. Then Mrs. Weasley let out a shriek as she looked up at two of her sons.

"Fred and George! What did the two of you do to each other?"

The twins looked at her in confusion and then looked at each other. It was then that they noticed that their hair was no longer red. It was flashing through a rainbow of vibrant colors. It only took one look before they broke out laughing.

"We didn't do it mom," Fred said.

"Honestly," George added when he saw the skeptical look on Mrs. Weasley's face.

Harry could no longer keep it in any longer and started to laugh. This caused the twins to look at him critically.

"Harry…" Fred began.

"We didn't expect…" put in George.

"A prank out of _you_." Fred finished.

"That's what you get," Harry said through his laughter, "for underestimating the son, godson, and nephew of the Marauders." Fred and George stared at him in shock.

"Did you say the Marauders?"

"Harry, you've been holding out on us."

"Which one is your dad?"

"Dad was Prongs, Sirius is Padfoot, and Moony is Uncle Remus."

"Oh, Harry."

"We are going to get along marvelously."

Harry laughed once more at the identical looks of excitement on the twin's faces, then he turned to the still shocked Mrs. Weasley.

"Sorry, Mrs. Weasley. Your sons' reputations preceded them, and I couldn't resist." He smiled at the look of mischief on Ginny's face. He had a feeling she would be more than willing to help him the next time he tried to prank her brothers. Looks like he had found the second member of the new generation of Marauders.

After lunch, Fred and George dragged Harry outside where they began to pester him with all sorts of questions about the pranks the Marauders were famous for, and in turn told him many of their own pranks. Harry told them as many stories as he could remember and the five children spent most of the afternoon laughing at the stories. But Harry refused to explain why he was laughing so much and shooting looks at the trees; he didn't want them to know he had seen Padfoot listening curiously from behind a nearby tree. But from the look on the dog's face it seemed that he was enjoying the stories just as much as the kids. It wasn't until late that afternoon that disaster struck.

Fred and George seemed to be getting bored, and so they fell back on one of their favorite past times—teasing Ginny and Ron. Harry laughed right along with them until George turned to Ginny.

"So Ginny, we've gone an entire day without hearing how wonderful Harry Potter is. Have you given up on your little crush now that we have another Harry to entertain us?" Ginny blushed crimson, not noticing that Harry was just as embarrassed.

"Shut up, George!" she answered violently. "I do not have a crush on Harry Potter! I just like to hear his story."

"Yeah, several times a day," Fred answered back.

Ginny stuck her tongue out at her brothers.

"What's so special about Harry Potter?" Harry asked quietly.

"Oh, don't you know his story?" Ginny asked eagerly, forgetting her anger at the twins.

"Only some of it, Sirius told me it yesterday."

"You didn't know who Harry Potter was until yesterday?"

"Not exactly."

"It's the best story ever! He defeated You-Know-Who when he was only a year old."

"Who? Voldemort? No, he's not really gone." Harry ignored everyone's shudder when he said the name.

"What do you mean?" Ron asked.

"Uncle Albus says he is just in hiding. He'll be back some time."

"Uncle Albus?" Fred asked.

"You call Dumbledore uncle?" George put in.

Harry was saved the trouble of answering by a call from the house. Mr. Weasley was home and it was getting close to time for Harry to go home.

"Hello, Mr. Weasley. It is nice to meet you," Harry said, offering his hand to the tall balding man in front of him. Mr. Weasley shook his hand firmly, looking curiously into his eyes.

"It is nice to meet you, Harry. You have very unusual eyes." Harry shifted anxiously. "I knew a witch once with the exact same eyes."

"They're my mom's eyes," Harry said nervously.

"Harry, who was your mother?" Harry looked uneasily up at the tall man, then shot a furtive look at Ginny before he answered.

"Lily Potter." He said it as quietly as he could.

"Oh!... But…" Ginny stuttered, staring at him. Harry slowly took his hat off, watching her the whole time. Her eyes went wide at the sight of the lightning bolt scar on his forehead. "Oh, Harry! I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to… Why didn't you say anything?" Harry shrugged in embarrassment.

"I didn't want you to treat me any different at first. And then… well… I didn't want to embarrass you."

Ginny's face went deep red once more, and with one final look at Harry she turned and ran out the door, Harry only steps behind her.

"Ginny!" he called after her. "Please don't run!"

Ginny came to a stop, but she didn't turn around to face him. When he caught up with her he could see tears running down her face. Harry was heartbroken. He hadn't meant to hurt Ginny; he had liked that she wanted to know him without knowing who he was.

"Please don't cry Ginny, I didn't mean to hurt you." She still refused to look at him. "I'm sorry… I just really wanted to be your friend. I've never had a friend my own age before and you were so nice and wanted to get to know me before you found out who I am. I didn't mean to keep anything from you. I honestly only found out I was famous yesterday. And then when Fred and George started teasing you I didn't know what to say. Please don't be mad at me, Ginny!"

"I'm not mad at _you_," she said in a small voice. "I'm mad at myself. I made a complete idiot of myself. I'm really not a silly girl who moons after you all the time, I just always thought it would be wonderful to get to know you."

"You do know me."

"No, I know Harry. Just plain Harry. But you're Harry Potter and that is so much more and…"

"No it isn't," he interrupted her. "I'm not any more special than you are. In fact, I think you're lucky. You got to grow up with your family and all your brothers. You didn't have to hide all your life. You can do things without always having someone watching you to make sure nothing happens."

"But Harry, no one is watching you now."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that." He looked at her carefully. "Can you keep a secret?" Ginny nodded shyly. "Padfoot!" He called.

It took barely a minute for a large black dog to bound in to view, looking much more alarmed than a dog usually can. At the sight of Harry, standing there looking perfectly fine, the dog stopped in confusion and cocked his head at Harry as if in question.

"Will you show Ginny who you are? I need to prove something to her. She won't say anything, she promised."

Padfoot looked at Harry for a long minute before nodding his head and slowly shifting into the form of Sirius Black once more. Ginny let out a startled shriek at the sight.

"But you're… but how… I'm confused." She finally managed to stutter out.

"Sirius is an animagus," Harry explained. Sirius shifted back into a dog and approached Ginny shyly until she reached out a tentative hand to stroke his fur. "He wouldn't let me come today unless he was close by. He was worried about something happening to me." Padfoot barked as if in confirmation of this fact.

Ginny looked up at Harry for several long minutes. It looked like she was trying to make a difficult decision. Eventually she smiled brightly at him, grabbed his hand and pulled him down to the ground. They sat right next to each other and Padfoot curled in to ball in front of them. After several minutes she finally spoke again.

"I'm sorry, Harry. I guess I've just always assumed that Harry Potter would be so much bigger than life. I never thought that he could be just like me."

"I'm not special," Harry stated emphatically.

"Yes you are," she responded. She waved aside his protests. "You're my friend, and that makes you special."

The two friends sat and talked until it got dark and Padfoot began pulling on Harry's clothes, as if telling him it was time for them to leave. Harry didn't want to leave. For the first time in his life he had made a real friend. He and Ginny seemed to be able to talk about everything. Ginny had been fascinated by some of the stories Harry told about how he grew up. She was shocked that he knew Dumbledore so well, and asked a lot of questions about the man who would one day be her Headmaster. Harry, in turn, asked to hear all about what it was like to grow up in a large family. Finally, clearly tired of trying to get Harry's attention, Padfoot once more shifted forms.

"Okay, kiddo. I know you two want to talk some more, but we really do need to be getting home. Remus is coming over for dinner and you know how worried he'll be if we aren't there when he gets there."

Harry looked at Ginny sadly. "Can I come back tomorrow?" he asked Sirius pleadingly.

Sirius chuckled. "How about we take Ginny out tomorrow? Then you'll still get to see her but you won't be in Mrs. Weasley's hair two days in a row."

"Thanks, Uncle Sirius!" Harry turned to Ginny, beaming, and grabbed her hand to drag her into the house. "Come on; let's go ask your mom's permission." Harry stopped just as he was about to open the door. "I better floo home, Uncle Sirius. I don't want the twins getting a hold of you tonight. They might not let you go."

"Highly possibly, kiddo. I'll meet you at home."

* * *

Sirius Black laughed at his godson for what must have been the tenth time that morning. Harry had been up and ready at the crack of dawn this morning, and ever since Sirius had woken up he had been pestering him to get ready so they could go get Ginny. Sirius briefly wondered if Harry had a crush on the young girl, then dismissed this thought. He was too young to be thinking about girls that way. Harry was just happy to have his very own friend. It made Sirius think that maybe he had been wrong keeping Harry so concealed from the wizarding world. The kid was practically starved for friendship. Well, Sirius would make it up to him. He had a feeling that Harry and Ginny were going to be great friends. Probably Ron, too. Especially as he would be in the same year as Harry at Hogwarts. It was doubtless a good thing that Harry had made genuine friends before heading off to Hogwarts. He would need them when faced with all the attention he would be sure to garner at school.

"Finally, Uncle Sirius! What took you so long?" Without waiting for a response, Harry grabbed his hand and pulled him towards the fireplace. "Come on, let's go get Ginny."

Harry missed the laughter on Sirius face, as he was already swallowed up by emerald green flames. He emerged once more into the Weasley's kitchen. Ginny was there, waiting for him, excitedly bouncing on her chair at the table.

"Harry! You came! Where are we going to go?"

"Hi Ginny!" he beamed at her. Behind him, Sirius emerged from the fireplace. "Uncle Sirius is going to take us to a park nearby. We used to go play there all the time; I actually live pretty close to here."

"Really? Can I come see your house?"

"No, I don't think you would be able to see it." He looked up to Sirius for confirmation. "There is a spell or something on it that keeps people from finding us. We would have to ask Uncle Albus if you would be allowed to come over."

"We'll have to ask him about that, kiddo," Sirius responded, shocking Harry. No one had ever been allowed over to their house. "Now, why don't you go find Ron and invite him along, too."

"Oh, that would be so fun!" Ginny exclaimed. She took Harry's hand and pulled him out the door. "Come on, Harry. I'll show you where his room is."

Harry followed her up a crooked and rickety staircase to the very top floor where a small sign on the door proclaimed "Ronald's Room". Harry knocked shyly. It was a couple of minutes before Ron opened the door, his disheveled hair proclaiming he had been asleep.

"Ginny! What do you… Oh, hey Harry."

"Hi Ron. Do you want to come with Ginny and me to the park? Sirius is going to take us."

"Sure, let me just get ready. I'll meet you guys down there."

"Okay, come on, Harry, I want to show you my room."

Harry laughed as Ginny once more dragged him by the hand, chattering at him the whole way. He liked having friends. Even if being Ginny's friend did seem to make Ron a little jealous. But Harry couldn't help it. He just liked being around her. Her excitement about life always seemed to rub off on him. And it was hard to be sad when you were around Ginny. In fact, Harry realized with a jolt, he hadn't thought about that awful prophecy since he had met Ginny. Deciding that this was definitely a good thing, Harry wondered if Ginny would be willing to write to him while he was at Hogwarts this year. He didn't want her to think that he was forgetting about her since she wouldn't be there.


	5. Hoggy Warty Hogwarts

The morning of September First found Harry once more bouncing around the house hours before Sirius got up. He was finally going to Hogwarts and the excitement had made it nearly impossible for him to sleep. Once they got to King's Cross, a hat once more securely covering Harry's scar, Sirius helped him stow his luggage in an empty compartment, and Harry left Hedwig's cage on the seat to save it for him. Then he went back on to the platform to wait for the Weasleys. The snowy owl had regularly made the short flight between Harry and Ginny's houses for the last few weeks, several times also carrying letters between Harry and Ron. And as often as possible Harry had convinced Sirius to let him visit or to take Ron and Ginny out for the day. It had been a busy month, and Harry had enjoyed every minute of it. Spending time with the Weasleys made Harry feel like he had siblings. And Mrs. Weasley had practically adopted him as one of her sons. It made a nice change having someone who was basically a mother to him. He didn't even mind her nagging. It made Harry feel wanted and loved. Of course, Ron teased him constantly about how he never complained when Mrs. Weasley would ask him to help out with whatever chores Ron and Ginny had.

Sirius had also spent the last month teaching him some spells. He wanted Harry to have some means of protecting himself at school. Most of the things Harry learned were defensive magic. But Sirius' prankster spirit also led him to teach many spells whose only uses were to cause embarrassment and hysterical laughter. Harry was quite looking forward to trying some of them out. And just this morning Sirius had handed Harry two wrapped packages. The first contained a small mirror.

"Your dad and I used to use these at school when we were in separate detentions. They are two-way mirrors. Whenever you need to talk to me you just have to say my name in to the mirror."

"This is great, Uncle Sirius! Now I can tell you all about the pranks that Ron and I pull."

"That's the idea, kid."

Harry opened the second package to reveal an old book with only one word on the cover. _Animagus_. Harry stared at it in wonder.

"Do I get to become an animagus like you and dad?"

"Yep. This is the same book we learned how to from. Now, you aren't going to start on it for awhile, but I want you to read up as much as you can so that you'll be ready. It will take me several months to make the potion for you." Sirius had been planning this for years. Not only would being an animagus help Harry to follow in his father's footsteps, but it would allow him an escape route for when he landed in the nasty situations that Sirius was sure were coming.

"Can I tell Ron and Ginny about it?"

"Sure, but be careful that no one overhears you. And Ginny will have to wait until she starts school before she can start working on it. But I think the three of you are amply qualified to be the new generation of Marauders."

The book was now safely tucked in to the bottom of Harry's trunk. He didn't want anyone else to see it. The best part, for Harry at least, was that scrawled across the title page of the book was a name. James Potter. This book had belonged to his dad. And when Harry had flipped through the pages he had noticed many notes written in the margins in his dad's handwriting.

The arrival of a long line of redheads drove the thoughts of the book firmly from Harry's mind. He excitedly greeted both Ginny and Ron and helped Ron stow his trunk in the compartment with Hedwig. Then the two boys headed back on to the platform to say goodbye. Mrs. Weasley fussed over Ron (he had some dirt on his nose) and flattened him in a tight hug while Sirius gave Harry one final hug.

"You be safe, kiddo. Remember that Uncle Albus wants to see you tomorrow night. He said the password to his office is Cauldron Cakes. And try and stay out of too much trouble. And don't forget, don't Snape get away with anything. And be careful." Harry rolled his eyes at his godfather. Sirius worried too much.

"I know, Uncle Sirius. It will be okay. And besides, I've got my mirror if I need anything, and I've got the cloak if I get in trouble." The invisibility cloak was currently folded into a square and tucked safely into his pocket.

Sirius bustled Harry onto the train, trying to hide the fact that his eyes were dangerously wet. But Harry wasn't fooled. Sirius would be awfully lonely without him around. At least Uncle Remus would still be there. Harry was about to close the train door behind him when he heard Ginny shout his name. He turned to see her running at him.

"You didn't say goodbye." Harry grabbed her hand and pulled her up with him before wrapping his arms around her in a tight hug.

"Sorry, Gin. I'll write lots and tell you all about it."

"Don't forget me, Harry." The usually vibrant girl was strangely subdued.

"I won't. Promise." He winked at her, causing her to let out a small giggle.

The train started to move underneath them and Ginny jumped back onto the platform. Harry stood there, waving at her until he lost sight of her, then he closed the door and made his way to the compartment with Ron. When they arrived, however, there was already someone sitting on the seat, watching Hedwig preen herself. The girl had bushy brown hair and large front teeth. She was already dressed in her Hogwarts robe.

"Oh, hello," she said when they came in and sat down. "I'm sorry to sit here, but every other compartment was full." She held her hand out towards Harry, and he shook it. "I'm Hermione Granger, who are you?"

"I'm Harry, and this is Ron." Ron didn't comment when Harry forget to mention both of their last names. He knew his friend was a little uncomfortable with the attention he got when people knew who he was. Ron, too, shook the girl's hand.

"It's a pleasure to meet you both. Are you two both in your first year?" They nodded together. "I am so excited to be going to Hogwarts. I didn't even know I was magical until I got my letter, and it was such a surprise, but I was pleased, of course. I've heard that Hogwarts is the best school of magic there is. I've learned all the books by heart, of course, and I only hope it is enough. Do either of you know what house you'll be in? I'd like to be in Gryffindor, I think. It sounds by far the best. Though I wouldn't mind Ravenclaw either. What about you guys?"

Hermione said all of this very fast, and Harry and Ron just stared at her. She had a bossy tone of voice, and they didn't exactly know how to answer her.

"My whole family is in Gryffindor," Ron finally managed, "so I probably will be, too. What about you, Harry?"

"Uncle Sirius said he would disown me unless I was in Gryffindor. But I don't think he was serious. Although he just might if I end up in Slytherin."

"Yeah, no one wants to be in Slytherin," Ron agreed. "That's where all the dark wizards are."

Their conversation was interrupted when the compartment door opened to reveal three boys. The middle one was small and blond, and he was flanked by two large boys who resembled small trolls more than people. The blond boy had a decidedly bored look on his face. Harry didn't know why, but something about the boy made him instantly not like him. The boy looked at each of them, as if sizing them up. He sniffed in disdain at Hermione and sneered at Ron. But he seemed unsure what to make of Harry.

"What do you want?" Harry asked. He wished the boy would just leave. He didn't like the looks he was shooting at Ron and Hermione.

"Just looking," he responded. "Who are you?"

"I'm Harry. Now would you please leave?"

"Harry? Harry who?"

"Just Harry."

"Well," the boy drawled, "you obviously aren't worth my notice. Hanging out with a Weasley and a Mudblood."

Hermione's face flushed at the word, and Ron practically shrieked in anger. But Harry remained calm, slowly drawing his wand.

"Why don't you say that word one more time?" His voice was soft but menacing.

"What, Mudblood? Well, she…"

They never heard the end of his sentence. Harry muttered something under his breath and a beam of light shot out of his wand and flew over the boy's head. He smirked at Harry, probably thinking Harry had missed. Harry just waited. Suddenly, the blond boy shrieked and threw up his hands to protect his face from the large tub of mud that was located above his head and starting to tip its contents all over him.

"Since you seem to like mud so much I thought you could use some." Harry said with a laugh. Ron shoved the boy roughly out into the hall and slammed the compartment door in his face.

"I'm glad Sirius taught me that spell," Harry said as Ron came and sat down beside him once more.

"You really shouldn't have attacked him. You could get in trouble before we even get to school!" Hermione said in obvious agitation.

"Hermione. I don't even know you yet, but _no one_ should ever call another human being something so low. I will not let him get away with that." Hermione huffed.

"Well, you still shouldn't have cursed him." In a much smaller voice she added, "But I am glad you did."

Being defended by Harry, someone she barely even knew, seemed to deflate the girl. For the next several hours she agreed to play exploding snap with Ron and Harry. The look on her face when the cards blew up for the first time sent both boys into hysterical laughter. As the sky outside started to darken, there was a shy knock on the door. The three kids looked up to see a round faced boy who looked a little lost.

"Have you guys seen a toad? I've lost mine." Harry shook his head.

"I'm sure he'll turn up. Why don't you come in and join us. I'm Harry," he said, offering his hand to the shy boy, "and this is Ron and Hermione."

"It's nice to meet you guys. I'm Neville Longbottom."

"Longbottom?" Harry asked. He had heard that name before. The boy nodded at him, an odd look in his eyes. It was then that Harry remembered one of the stories Sirius had told him about how the Death Eaters had attacked a young couple named Longbottom shortly after Voldemort disappeared. It was one of the reasons Sirius had used to justify how overprotective of Harry he was. "I've heard…" Harry began. But he came to a hasty stop. Neville was looking at him with abject fear in his eyes. Harry guessed that the boy didn't like to be reminded about what happened to his parents any more than Harry did. "I've think I've heard that name before. Uncle Sirius must have mentioned that he knew you guys."

"Probably," Neville said, looking immensely relieved that Harry hadn't mentioned what had happened to his parents. "Gran says that mom and dad were really popular in school. They were even friends with the Potters."

Neville said this with obvious pride, but it caused Harry to blush red and shoot Ron a warning glance not to saying anything. Ron simply shrugged. Harry always seemed to avoid telling people who he is, even when someone mentioned him; he had been doing so for the past month.

The rest of the train ride passed in uneventful chatter and a rather loud game of wizarding chess between Ron and Hermione. Harry and Neville watched the other two play and spent much of the game laughing at how outraged Hermione seemed to be that Ron was beating her. Harry consoled her when she lost, informing her of how Ron always won at chess. When the train came to a halt the four new friends found their way onto the crowded platform and followed the loud voice calling, "Firs' years! Firs' years over here!" They halted at the sight of the enormous man calling them. He was at least twice as tall as a normal man and probably four times as wide, and he had a large scraggly black beard and twinkling black eyes. When they got closer to him he caught sight of Harry.

"Harry! Is tha' you? I'm Hagrid. You won' remember me but I was the one that go' yer out of your house when…" Harry hastily interrupted him.

"Hi Hagrid! Uncles Sirius has told me all about you. These are my friends, Ron, Hermione, and Neville."

Hagrid said hello to the kids, then shooed them on to one of a small fleet of boats. Harry tried to ignore the way that Hermione was looking at him curiously. It seemed she was the only one who noticed him trying to keep Hagrid quiet. Luckily, before she got around to questioning him all her attention was grabbed by the large castle they were approaching. Harry smiled up at the building before him. He just knew that he was going to thoroughly enjoy his time at Hogwarts.

* * *

Harry was shocked as he stared at the ragged old hat while it finished its song. He was going to kill Sirius. He knew he wouldn't have to pass some kind of test to get into Gryffindor. All he had to do was try the hat on. He watched enthralled as the nervous first year students began to try the hat on. Hermione was the first of their group to go up. Harry laughed quietly at how nervous she seemed. It didn't take long before she got her wish of being sorted into Gryffindor. It took much longer for Neville to be sorted, but finally he joined Hermione, looking immensely relieved to have been sorted at all. Harry waited nervously for his turn. He wasn't excited about the fact that his name was about to be announced to the whole school. There was no chance of keeping who he was a secret any longer.

"Potter, Harry!" Professor McGonagall called. Harry cringed at the whispers that broke out in the room as he walked to the front. The last thing he saw before the hat dropped over his eyes was Hermione and Neville's shocked faces as they looked at him.

"Well," said a small voice in his ear. "Difficult. Very difficult. Plenty of courage, and a strong habit of troublemaking. Not a bad mind, either. There's talent, oh my goodness, yes—and a determination to win. Oh, my, what do we have here? A prophecy. Well that complicates things even more." Harry was frantic. He hadn't even been thinking about the prophecy, and no one was supposed to know. "Don't worry, lad," the hat answered. "I'm not going to tell anyone. But where to put you?"

Harry tensed. "If you want my opinion," he answered, "Sirius promised to disown me if I didn't get put in Gryffindor."

Harry heard a chuckle in his head. "Yes, I imagine Sirius Black would be quite disappointed if he managed to avoid Slytherin only to have his godson go there. Well, it seems I have little choice. It had better be GRYFFINDOR!"

Harry heard the hat shout the last word to the whole hall, and he tugged it off his head. As he walked towards the table where Hermione and Neville sat he noticed that he was getting the loudest cheer yet. This made him pull his hat down even further over his scar. He hated being stared at. He sat down across from Hermione, vainly struggling to ignore the way she was watching him. Instead, he tried to watch the last few kids get sorted. Soon there were only a handful of kids left and it was Ron's turn. Harry crossed his fingers under the table.

He needn't have worried. In no time at all Ron had joined him at the Gryffindor table. Harry breathed a sigh of relief. He was glad his friend would be sharing a room with him. Especially as Ron seemed to be the only person at the whole table who wasn't staring at him curiously. It was a relief when Uncle Albus got to his feet and everyone's attention shifted to the front of the hall.

"Welcome!" he said. "Welcome to a new year at Hogwarts! Before we begin our banquet, I have few words. And they are Nitwit! Blubber! Oddment! And Tweak!"

Albus sat back down and Harry burst into laughter. That was so like him. Hermione looked at him strangely.

"You shouldn't laugh at the Headmaster, Harry," she said sternly.

"Oh, Uncle Albus doesn't mind if I laugh at him. In fact, I think he enjoys it."

Hermione shot him another strange look. Harry sighed, but he supposed it was unavoidable. Trying to ignore her, he reached across the table for some potatoes and started to eat hungrily.

Harry spent the rest of the feast listening to the conversations around him and trying to avoid the people who were constantly turning around to have a look at him. Instead he examined the ceiling above him, trying to identify as many of the constellations as he could remember. Then he looked up at the staff table. He could see Uncle Albus sitting in the middle of the table. He found Hagrid, the large man who had led them across the lake, and Professor McGonagall, who he had heard stories about. Uncle Remus told him that she wasn't nearly as stern as she looked. There was a weird looking man who was wearing some kind of turban. Harry got an uneasy feeling from him. It reminded him of how he instantly disliked that blond boy on the train. Only this time the unease was enough to make his stomach twist unpleasantly. He would have to ask Uncle Albus about the strange man. Sitting next to him was a man with sallow skin and a hooked nose. When Harry saw that he also had greasy black hair he smiled. This was Snape. Uncle Sirius and Uncle Remus had told him all about the boy they went to school with. He was obsessed with the Dark Arts and made an excellent prank victim. Remus had even warned Harry how Snape would probably never treat Harry fairly in class. Harry figured if he was going to be treated badly he might as well earn it. Maybe he could convince Ron to take a midnight stroll under the cloak sometime this week. He could modify the spell he used earlier on the train so that it dumped a large amount of soapy water instead. It would be perfect.

Harry turned his attention back to Uncle Albus. He was saying something about a forbidden corridor on the third floor…

* * *

A/N: I have been pleasantly surprised by how people are reacting to my little story. It has definitely been fun to write. I have started to plan out the next few years of the timeline. I would like to hear any suggestions on how I should change things. I am stuck on several of the subplots.


	6. The Marauders Return

The first week of class had been fantastic. Harry could already tell that he was going to love Transfiguration. Charms was a little bit harder for him, but Hermione had helped him with the spells until he was able to do them. Neville turned out to be really good at Herbology, and had agreed to help them study for that class. When they climbed up to the tallest tower to study Astronomy Harry discovered that Ron was able to identify most of the stars. He told them how his older brothers had spent hours telling him and Ginny stories about the different constellations. Unfortunately, at least in Harry's mind, Defense Against the Dark Arts turned out to be something of a joke. Harry and Ron had determined, despite Hermione's frown of annoyance, that they were going to spend most of that class planning pranks instead of paying attention. Even worse, the ghost who taught History of Magic had to be the most boring teacher any of them had ever had. Five minutes in to the first class all three boys' had fallen asleep on their desks. Only Hermione was able to stay awake. But the worst class was Potions with Snape. Harry had been right to think that Snape would never treat him fairly. Harry had lost 20 points the very first day. Snape had been asking him all sorts of questions that Harry didn't know the answer to, so Harry replied, "If you need so much help with the subject why are you the one teaching it?"

Ron had ducked out of sight to hide his laughter and Neville had gripped to the seat hard to keep himself from laughing. Only Hermione had not approved. But then she didn't understand that Snape deserved it.

On Friday afternoon the four friends had walked down to a small hut on the edge of the forest and had tea with Hagrid. The large man turned out to be remarkably nice. He told them all stories about some of the creatures he looked after. But it was Saturday night that Harry was really looking forward to. He and Ron were going to sneak out under the cloak. They had spent most of the night waiting impatiently for Hermione and Neville to go to bed.

"Finally," Ron muttered as Hermione disappeared up the stairs to her dormitory. "I thought they were never going to leave. Have you got it?"

Harry pulled out the invisibility cloak, and both boys slipped underneath it. As quietly as they could, they snuck out of the portrait hole—ignoring the Fat Lady's squawk of protest at being woken up—and proceeded down to the dungeon. When they reached the door to Snape's classroom Harry pulled out his wand and muttered a spell under his breath, while Ron pulled out the large sign they had made and hung it inside the classroom. It read "Your shower comes free of charge, in memory of the Maraudette who is unable to join us." It had been Harry's idea to dedicate the prank to Ginny. She had been sad that she wouldn't be there to help them with it when Harry had written her their plan earlier in the week. He didn't want her to feel left out.

"Let's get out of here before Filch catches us," Ron muttered. Harry nodded and threw the cloak around them once more.

Harry and Ron made sure to get to breakfast early the next morning. They wanted to be there when Snape got there. They had barely started eating when an irate, and very wet, Snape marched in to the Great Hall. He strode up towards Dumbledore, scattering the students who were in his way—they really didn't want to deal with a Snape even angrier than usual. Harry, who knew Albus well, recognized the twinkle in the Headmaster's eyes. He was trying not to laugh at his angry professor.

"Look what those brats did to me!"

"How do you know who is responsible, Severus?"

"It was Potter. He left a note." Snape handed the sign to Dumbledore, who read it quickly.

"This does not say it was Potter. It only seems to be someone following in the auspicious tradition of the Marauders. That could be anyone. I'm sure you remember the prank the Weasley twins did in their honor several years ago."

"It has to be Potter!"

"Very well, I will speak with Harry myself this evening."

Harry practically laughed out loud. He knew he wasn't going to get punished. Uncle Albus had already set up the meeting for tonight. When Harry had gone to the Headmaster's office last week Albus had informed him that Sirius had requested that he teach Harry some of the rarer forms of magic that weren't taught at Hogwarts. Tonight they were going to start working on something called Occlumency. Uncle Albus said it would keep Voldemort from learning the prophecy from Harry's mind.

"Harry," Hermione chided him, "you really shouldn't be laughing. You are going to get in trouble tonight."

"Nah, I already was meeting with Uncle Albus tonight. He just didn't want to admit to Snape that he wanted to laugh just as much as I did."

"Why are you meeting with Professor Dumbledore?" She asked curiously.

"Uncle Sirius asked him to teach me some things that I won't learn at school. He wants me to learn how to protect myself."

"Is he worried you are going to be attacked?"

"Well, it's more for when…" Harry stopped himself quickly. "Yeah, I guess he is. Uncle Sirius worries like that."

Hermione nodded thoughtfully, and Harry breathed a sigh of relief. He hadn't told anyone about how he was going to have to fight Voldemort again someday. He would have to be more careful about what he said around her, she was clever enough to figure it out on her own if he wasn't careful.

Once again, Harry wished that Ginny was here with him. She always kept him from brooding about things too much, even if she didn't know the pressure he was under. Hermione tended to have the opposite effect. Maybe there was something he could do about that.

Muttering something about needing to go to the library, Harry escaped out of the Great Hall and ducked into the first empty classroom. He pulled the small mirror out of his pocket and whispered, "Sirius!" It was several minutes before Sirius came in to view.

"Hey kiddo, what's up? How did your prank go?"

"It went perfectly. Snape marched in to the Great Hall sopping wet, demanding that I be punished as he was sure it was me. Uncle Albus said he would meet with me tonight, I think he was just preventing Snape himself from punishing me. He had to know I was the one who did it."

"Yeah, it is hard to keep anything from Dumbledore."

"Hermione was asking about my meetings with Uncle Albus today. I didn't know what to tell her. I said that you had asked for me to have extra lessons because you're paranoid. Sorry."

"Hey, that's alright. It got her off your tail."

"Yeah, I think she is too smart sometimes. I want someone to talk to who can listen to my problems without asking too many questions. Ron always gets bored talking about _feelings_ and Neville is too shy. I miss Ginny."

"I'm sure she misses you, too, kid. She already fire called this morning asking if I knew how your prank had gone."

"I wish I could talk to her the way I can talk to you." Harry looked thoughtful for a minute. "Do you think I can make another set of mirrors for me and Ginny?"

"I'm not sure. It took James and me ages, and we were much older than you. The charms were pretty difficult." Sirius thought for a few minutes. "But I remember reading about a similar idea that was much easier to do. I think it worked on a piece of parchment. Sent messages between them or something."

"That would be great!"

"I'll look it up for you and let you know."

"Thanks, Uncle Sirius. I better get to the library. If I don't start working on my Charms essay soon Hermione is going to start bugging me about it."

"Alright, kid. Talk to you later."

* * *

It was the following Thursday when Hedwig arrived at breakfast with a small package from Sirius. In it were instructions for creating a pair of message parchments. Sirius had even added a little spell that would make it so only he and Ginny could read them. But this meant that Ginny herself would have to cast the spell on her parchment. This worried Harry. He didn't want Ginny to have to steal one of her parents' wands. But he figured he could at least ask her. If nothing else, he could help her do it at Christmas.

_Hey Ginny,_

_I can't believe how well our prank worked. We dedicated it to the missing Maraudette, that's you in case you couldn't guess. Ron whined about this for awhile, but he came around eventually. Snape stormed into the middle of the Great Hall sopping wet and demanding to have me punished. The best part was he couldn't prove it was me (Uncle Albus said something about how your brothers did pranks in honor of the Marauders as well) and so Uncle Albus had to 'punish' me. Actually, he called me to his office and had a good laugh at the look on Snape's face. Though he did tell me that I probably shouldn't be pranking teachers. I take that to mean that it is perfectly okay to prank students. Ron and I are working on ideas. Neville even wants to help this time. I think he was just scared to help with Snape. Of course, Hermione still hasn't stopped yelling at us for the prank on Snape. I don't think she has ever broken a rule in her life. We'll have to work on her. But in the meantime I think it's best if we leave her out of the planning of our pranks._

_Anyways, I asked Uncle Sirius to help me with something. I wanted to be able to talk to you better than through a letter. It always takes so long, even if Hedwig is really fast. Uncle Sirius and Dad had made these mirrors when they were at school that let them talk to each other and I was hoping I could make some for us. But Uncle Sirius said they were really hard and I probably wouldn't be able to for a couple years. Instead he told me about a spell we could do on a piece of parchment. It should work like an instant letter so that we can talk whenever we want. Uncle Sirius even found a way so that only you and I can read them. I think it would be a great idea. But it is up to you. Because you have to perform the charm yourself. Sirius said it shouldn't be too difficult, but I don't want you to get in trouble for using magic. So anyways. I included the instructions. If you want to, perform the charm and write to me. I'll be waiting!_

_Your friend, Harry._

_P.S. Flying lessons are tonight! I can't wait to fly again. And this will be a great chance to show Malfoy up. He's always talking about flying, but I bet I can beat him. It's in my blood!_

Harry was very nervous on Friday. He had sent the letter to Ginny yesterday and he wasn't sure what she would do. What if she didn't think it was worth the possibility of getting in trouble? What if she didn't want to talk to him? But he nonetheless carried his charmed parchment to every class with him. He almost yelled at Neville when the boy asked to borrow it, having forgotten his own. He hurriedly found another piece and explained how that was a special piece of parchment. It wasn't until half-way through Potions that something happened. A piece of writing appeared on the parchment and Harry nearly shouted with joy.

_Hey, Harry!_

_Ginny! You did it! You didn't get in trouble, did you?_

_No, I stole Mom's wand while she was making breakfast. She never even noticed it was gone._

_Good. I almost didn't ask you, I didn't want you to get in trouble._

_Prat! Of course I wanted to. Besides, if she had caught me I was just going to tell her I was trying to perform a prank on my letter to Fred and George. _

_You are entirely too devious. Can't wait to see what pranks we can play once you get here._

"Potter! What are you doing?"

Harry looked up into the black eyes of a very angry Snape.

"Nothing, Sir. Just taking notes on our potion."

"That parchment looks blank to me." Harry was immensely glad they had added the spell to hide it from everyone else.

"I hadn't started yet."

Snape didn't look convinced. He grabbed the parchment and examined closely. Harry held his breath the entire time, trying desperately to look like he didn't care about that piece of parchment more than any of the rest. Snape evidently couldn't find anything wrong with it. He slammed it back on the desk and barked, "detention tomorrow for not paying attention in my class, Potter."

Harry nodded, then waited until Snape had returned to his desk before turning back to his parchment.

_Harry? Where did you go?_

_Sorry, Gin. Snape gave me detention for not paying attention._

_Oh, I thought you had forgotten about me._

_Not likely. But I should go before he gives me another one. Can we talk later tonight?_

_Sure, Harry. I'll be waiting._

* * *

_…So Malfoy really got his comeuppance. I didn't think he was expecting me to be so much better on a broom than him. And even better, Madam Hooch told him he had been doing it wrong for years! It was hilarious. Ron and I aren't going to let him forget it anytime soon. _

_I knew you would beat him. Just wish I was there to see the stupid grin get taken off his face._

_It was a good think Uncle Sirius had taught me to ride so well, though. Neville was really nervous—I guess his Gran never let him ride a broom before—and shot up like a cork straight in to the air, totally out of control. But I was able to get close enough to him that I could help him steer his broom back down to the ground. Madam Hooch gave me 20 points and pulled me aside afterwards to tell me that I should try out for the Quidditch team. I guess they have been looking for a seeker and haven't been able to find anyone. It would be so cool if I could make the team this year!_

_That is fantastic Harry! You'll have to try and talk them in to letting you have your own broom. I hear the school ones are dreadful._

_Yeah, they definitely aren't as fast as mine. Hey! Maybe Uncle Sirius will buy me a new one in celebration! I'll have to ask him. _

_I bet he was happy you got on the team._

_Yeah. Haven't seen him this excited since that time I was able to get both him and Uncle Remus with a hair loss potion. _

_I wish I could be there with you. It is so boring here with Ron gone. Mom is always trying to find something girly for us to do together. I don't think she likes the fact that I always want to play with the boys._

_What can I say, we're just funner than the girls._

_That's not even a word, Harry. And there are some fun girls. Luna Lovegood lives close by, but she gets a little weird sometimes. Always going on about imaginary creatures and things. She's been like that ever since her mom died a few years ago._

_Maybe she's just lonely._

_Yeah, probably. I should go see her again soon. _

_I wonder if your mom would be okay with inviting Sirius over. I don't like that he is all alone in that house. _

_I'm not sure he is alone._

_What do you mean?_

_The other day Mum sent an owl asking if he wanted to stop by for dinner. He sent back a scribbled reply. Said something about interviewing teachers. Seemed a little fishy to me._

_Well, he might be looking for another teacher for me._

_What do you mean? Why do you need a teacher._

_Sirius wants me to learn a lot of things that aren't covered at Hogwarts. _

_Why?_

_Because… Because he wants me to be ready._

_For what? Come on Harry, it's like pulling gnomes some times to get you to talk._

_Well, I'm not really supposed to say anything._

_Oh. Well then you don't have to._

_But I want to. I guess you could say that we know I am going to have to be the one to fight Voldemort when he gets enough strength to come back._

_How do you know that?_

_Um… I shouldn't say. Uncle Albus would get mad at me for telling anyone. That's why I have meetings with him, though. He is teaching me Occlumency right now. That is magic that keeps anyone from being able to read your mind. And when I get done with that Sirius hinted that he might get someone to teach me fencing. He said it might be good practice._

_Wow. Do you think I can learn, too? At least when I get to Hogwarts?_

_I hope so. But I know one thing you can learn. Starting this summer Sirius promised to teach me to be an animagus like him. And he said he would teach you, too._

_REALLY!_

_Yeah. I can't wait to find out what animal I am. I can't decide if I want to be a stag like my dad was, or if I want to be a bird that can fly. _

_Flying would be nice. But I also would like to be a cat. _

_I can see that._

_Oh, Harry. I have to go. Mum is calling. I think she gets nervous when I am quiet for so long. She thinks I'm turning out too much like the twins._

_I like that about you. Alright, but don't forget to write if anything interesting happens._

_I won't. Goodnight Harry._

_Night Gin._

* * *

A/N: I wanted to reply to one review that didn't sign in. I much prefer to respond to reviews privately, but if you don't sign in I can't. I try to take negative reviews not personally, but sometimes it makes me a little angry when I get accused of something I didn't do. It also tends to make me spend so much time paying attention to how I want to respond to the review that I lose all desire to write more. If you want to add constructive criticism, that is fine. I am very grateful for any help. But please take the time to make sure it is a valid complaint.

Blah(): You complain about the timeline of the first chapter. This was not me. The timeline comes from the first chapter of Sorcerer's Stone. Dumbledore sent Hagrid to get Harry that night, and met him at Privet Drive. I don't know if Dumbledore had been to Godric's Hollow already, but I doubt it as why would he leave Harry there? It seems more likely that he knew what had happened due to his many very cool instruments in his office. The only thing I changed about JKR's original timeline was to have Sirius arrive before Hagrid by a few minutes instead of after. (It was necessary to give Sirius the motivation to go to Dumbledore before he went after Peter. He really didn't like having to give Harry up once he had him.) It makes me sad when people complain about my story for something that wasn't my fault. If you don't agree with the timeline I suggest you take it up with the fantastically cool woman who wrote it.

On a much happier note:

wizmage: I have considered having Harry and Ginny develop some kind of soul bond. I have not decided yet. Either way, they are going to get together earlier this time around. I think I am more inclined not to, as I don't think I can do it near as well as it is done in my favorite soul bond story, Harry Potter and Fate's Debt by Intromit. I am thinking that I might have them just be especially connected. Maybe have some kind of magical connection that isn't as strong as a soul bond usually is made to be. I would like to hear people's opinions on this issue, however. Which is why I chose to respond here instead of privately.


	7. Strange Occurrences

With very little unusual happenings, at least for Hogwarts, most of the first term of school passed quickly. (There was the day that Professor Quirrell had run screaming into the Great Hall about a troll loose in the dungeons, but the teachers had taken care of it and Harry never even saw the thing, despite numerous attempts. Percy kept on catching him and Ron trying to sneak off. And then there was the disastrous first Quidditch match in which Harry had been thrown from his bucking broomstick, only to catch the snitch in his mouth on the way down. They never did figure out who had been cursing his broom. But Harry preferred not to mention those.) The Weasleys were taking a trip to Romania to visit their second oldest son, Charlie, and taking Ginny with them, so Harry invited Ron over to his house for Christmas break. Harry had been hoping that Sirius would have the animagus potion ready for them by break, but Sirius had had some difficulty obtaining one of the ingredients. He kept complaining about how only nutters like Snape had any, and he couldn't very well break in to Snape's private stores for some _again_—as they had done last time. At first, Harry had been quite upset by the delay. But Ginny had pointed out to him (she was the only one who knew about the plan to become animagi) that she wouldn't be able to start learning until next year anyways, and did he really want to leave her out? Harry had learned from experience that he should listen whenever Ginny took this tone of voice (communicating via a piece of paper did nothing to diminish his ability to recognize _the tone_) and reluctantly agreed. But Harry first exacted a rather alarming assurance from Sirius that he would come through on his promise to find a fencing teacher for Harry over the summer.

Exactly why Sirius wanted him to learn fencing was a mystery. He didn't think he would be able to kill Voldemort in a sword fight. But ever since Sirius had suggested the idea to him, Harry had been excited by it. It just sounded so _cool_ to be able to fence. He was also hoping that Ron and Ginny would be able to join him in these lessons. Of course, this (and the hoped for visit from Ron over Christmas) required the permission of Dumbledore. So it was that Harry was found making his way to the Headmaster's office a week before break.

"Lemon drops," he told the statue. Harry never did understand what the Headmaster's obsession with Muggle sweets was. But at least this sweet was particularly appropriate; Uncle Albus was always offering him some.

"Hello, Harry. What can I help you with today? I didn't think we were going to meet again until after the start of the year."

"No, that's right. I wanted to ask you about something else."

"Certainly."

"Can you tell Ron and Ginny about our house? I want to have Ron over for Christmas so he doesn't have to stay here alone." Albus watched him carefully.

"That seems like an excellent idea. But what about young Ginevra?" Harry shifted slightly at the question, causing Albus to raise his eyebrows in curiosity as he watched.

"Uncle Sirius promised me fencing lessons this summer. I want Ron and Ginny to join me."

"Indeed." His eyes were twinkling more than usual. "You seem to be unusually good friends with young Ginevra." Albus was definitely watching him very carefully.

"Ginny… she's special. And she was my first real friend. I don't want to leave her out more than I have to."

"Yes, I had noticed that you seem to spend a great deal of time writing these days."

"Ginny and I found a… ah, quicker means of communicating than regular owl post."

"It is good to stay close with your friends. Have you told her about the prophecy?"

"No, sir. Sirius told me not to tell anyone. But she knows that Uncle Sirius is training me to fight for when Voldemort comes back. I think she might have guessed why that is."

"There may come a time soon, Harry, when you will feel the need to share everything with your friend. Do not be afraid to tell her the truth." Harry watched Albus in shock, he had been told that he was _never_ allowed to tell anyone about the prophecy, or even reveal that there was a prophecy. And now he was being told that it would be okay for him to tell Ginny, of all people.

"Thank you, sir." Harry would worry about precisely _why_ he was being told this at another time. Albus very rarely revealed the reason behind his decisions. In fact, Harry was sure that he would not have learned the prophecy for several more years if the decision had been left up to the cagey Headmaster.

As Harry made his way out of the office, Albus wondered exactly what type of relationship the young boy had with the youngest Weasley. He knew that Ginevra was unusually talented. She had learned to control her magic at an extraordinarily young age—though this might have come from the need to protect herself from six larger and older brothers, most of whom had a particular penchant for pranking. But her connection to Harry was the most interesting thing about her. Albus had been wary of telling Harry the full contents of the prophecy, though he could not overrule Sirius' choice to do so. Surprisingly, Harry had taken the news very well. Sirius had confided in Albus that he thought it was Harry's new friend who had kept him grounded. Harry certainly did seem to want to spend an unusual amount of time with her, though that might just have been his excitement over finally having his own friend. It might be that young Ginevra would play a larger role in the upcoming war than Albus had anticipated. He would have to watch them carefully in the future.

* * *

Ginny Weasley did not want to be in Romania. She was very excited to be seeing Charlie again, but she wished that Ron and Harry could have come with them. She hardly thought it was fair that Ron got to see Harry's house before she did. Dumbledore had visited last week to tell her Mom and Dad that Ron would be staying at Sirius' house, and that Harry had asked him to tell both Ron and Ginny where it was. He had taken Ginny into the kitchen and, after placing several silencing and privacy charms, told her where the house was located. It was amazing, but once he had told her she could remember actually seeing it before. It wasn't that far from her house and she had once flown Bill's old broom over that section of the forest. But learning where he lived made her all the more anxious to be able to actually see Harry again. It was very nice to get to talk to him through the parchment, and she was very glad he had chosen to do so with _her_ of all people, but it wasn't the same as actually getting to see him.

Ginny would never admit it to anyone, but she missed getting to see his brilliant emerald eyes, and the way they would light up at any hint of mischief.

Hoping to distract herself, Ginny talked Charlie in to taking her to see some of the dragons that afternoon. Her mom, no doubt scared of Ginny getting hurt, had forbidden her to go near some of the more vicious dragons, but Charlie thought his little sister was made of sterner stuff than that.

"Remember, half pint," he said as he led her by the hand, "we only saw a Welsh Green today, nothing remotely dangerous at all."

"Of course," Ginny answered as a dragon that was definitely _not_ a Welsh Green came in to view. "Is that the Fireball?"

"Sure is. And her eggs are about to hatch, so she's in a right mood."

The dragon before them was a beautiful scarlet with gold spikes. Ginny could just barely make out the crimson and gold eggs that the dragon was crouched over. Ginny and Charlie stood watching her from a safe distance—she was shooting fire at any wizard who came close.

"She is beautiful."

"She's the one who always reminds me of you. Brilliant red and with a temper to match." Ginny hit Charlie across the arm.

"I _do not_ have a temper."

"Sure you don't, half pint. Ready to see the Horntail?"

"Yes!"

The dragon that Charlie led her to this time was lizard-like and black with fierce-looking bronze spikes on its long tail.

"The Horntail is the most dangerous dragon we have here. That one there can shoot fire over forty feet. And the tail is just as dangerous. See those spikes?" Ginny nodded mutely, holding tightly to his hand. "Come on, I'll show you a Vipertooth before we have to go back."

"Those are the fastest, right Charlie."

"Yep. Small and fast. Just like you." Charlie pointed out a copper colored dragon with black spikes. "And they are venomous. And have a particular taste for humans." Ginny rolled her eyes at her brother. He was just trying to scare her.

"I think you're just exaggerating."

Charlie just chuckled at her. Ginny let go of his hand and crept closer to the dragon enclosure. The Vipertooth was a beautiful dragon. Ginny was lost in a fantasy about flying on one, able to go faster than any broom. And she didn't notice the dragon turn a malevolent yellow eye on her brother. Charlie, however, did. Not wanting to frighten Ginny he sent a silent stunner at the dragon, hoping that with its smaller size he would be able to stun it with one spell instead of the usual five it required. The spell served only to enrage the dragon. Since Charlie seemed to be the one yielding a wand, the dragon turned on the small girl that was closer to him and prepared to roast her alive. She looked quite tasty.

The Vipertooth swallowed his flames with a strangled gulp, sending up a cloud of smoke.

Charlie, who had never seen such a thing before, was startled. The dragon had taken one real look at Ginny and immediately stopped his attack. Dragons showed no respect for humans, but something about Ginny had stopped him in his tracks. Charlie put the incident away to ponder later. He needed to get Ginny back before Mum learned they were gone. There would be hell to pay if she learned he had taken Ginny to see the worst dragons here.

* * *

It was a windy day late in January that Harry began to notice the first unusual thing. Uncle Albus had been teaching him Occlumency all year, and he had gotten pretty good by now. He was convinced that it was only years of living around two of the worst pranksters (Uncle Remus would never admit it, but he liked pranking just as much as Sirius) that had taught him to hide his thoughts so well. Harry didn't think he would have noticed anything if it weren't for his unusual training.

He could feel someone trying to access his mind.

The attempts were fairly small, and didn't happen very often, but it worried him. No student would know Legilimency. Which only left the professors. Harry was fairly sure that Snape had tried before (Sirius had warned him about this), but that didn't explain the attempts he would feel at times when Snape wasn't even there. It worried Harry, and caused him to spend a lot more effort on mastering the difficult branch of magic. He even asked Ginny for tips. He figured anyone who had been able to successfully prank the twins must have some tricks up her sleeve for how to hide the truth. It took a lot of concentration to lie with such a straight face. Ginny's idea had been for Harry to try the same method she had learned on. Prank Fred and George and lie to them to their face, or face the consequences.

This provided ample entertainment for the two friends as Harry spent most of February planning increasingly elaborate pranks on the two third year boys. Luckily, the only person who ever caught him sneaking out was Professor Quirrell. But the stuttering man simply looked at him strangely and told him to be more careful in the future. Quirrell rarely gave detentions.

But all things have a first time. In early March Professor Quirrell had told Harry and Ron off for not paying attention in Defense and he had given Harry a detention. Fred and George were thrilled. Apparently, Harry was the only one who goofed off enough to get a detention from Quirrell all year. Personally, Harry thought he must have just ticked off the professor. He had been fairly quiet that day in class. Having successfully played a prank on Malfoy two days ago, he and Ron were taking a break before their next one and had nothing to plan. But then again, Harry had always gotten a weird feeling from Quirrell. He wasn't looking forward to spending an entire night alone with him. It always made him slightly sick to his stomach to be near the stuttering professor. So it was with a palpable sense of dread that Harry made his way to Quirrell's office after dinner.

"Come in," was the soft response to Harry's knock. Harry was quite shocked that the professor was able to speak at all without stuttering.

Once Harry had entered the room, which was adorned rather sparsely, he heard the door click shut behind him. He didn't recall shutting it. Quirrell was looking at him rather intensely, and Harry had the distinct impression that he was somehow being tested.

"You are very interesting to me, Mr. Potter. I am, I suppose you could say, professionally curious about your defeat of the Dark Lord. And as only a baby, too."

"Doesn't say much for Voldemort, does it? That a baby could defeat him?" Quirrell flinched at the name, as did most of the wizarding world.

"Do not speak his name!"

"Why not? It's not like he earned my respect or anything."

"Power should always be respected."

"Voldemort only had power because people were too afraid of him. I see no reason for that to continue with him gone, for now."

Quirrell looked at him curiously at the last remark, and Harry quickly realized that he had slipped. It wasn't common knowledge that Voldemort would be coming back.

"You know more than you appear to, Mr. Potter."

Harry was getting uncomfortable. This didn't feel much like a detention. Instead it felt like an interrogation. And although Quirrell was being careful to be polite, it seemed like it was only until he finished his judgment of Harry. Quirrell's eyes were boring in to his, and it felt like he was trying to break through the walls around Harry's mind. Harry was intensely grateful for the lessons from Uncle Albus. Maybe it would be best if he avoided looking at the professor all together. He thought he might have found the source of those attacks on his mind that he had noticed.

"Look at me, Harry."

"No." Legilimency was easier with eye contact.

"I said look at me!"

When Harry still refused to bring up his eyes, Quirrell reached a hand out to try and forcibly lift his eyes. But the second that Quirrell touched his chin he let out a scream of pain, and Harry felt a spasm of pain across the scar on his forehead. Harry stepped back from him quickly, looking in horror at the man's badly burned hand.

"Potter! What have you done?"

Harry didn't bother answering. He sprinted to the door and wrenched it open. He heard Quirrell screaming behind him, but he made it around the corner, frantically pulling the cloak out of his pocket. He disappeared beneath it, only one thought in his mind—get to Albus.

A/N: Sorry things have taken a bit longer. I'm home for the break and it is much harder to get my computer on the internet, so for the next two weeks updates won't be as regular. But I have spent a lot of time thinking about the story and have some good ideas. I'm taking suggestions on what Ron's animagus form is (I'm not sure whether to make it a dog like his patronus or not). Also, I've found quote by JKR that Harry and Ginny are real soul mates. So I'll be going that route. But I still haven't decided if they will have the typical soul bond powers or not.


	8. The One With the Power to Vanquish

Harry was frantic as he raced through the halls. What if he wasn't able to get there before Quirrell caught him? He didn't understand what had happened in the office, but he was positive about two things. Quirrell would want revenge, and something was dreadfully wrong. Maybe there was a reason behind the uneasy feeling he had had around Quirrell all year long.

"Peanut Clusters!" he screamed at the gargoyle, barely even waiting for it to move aside before he was racing up the stairs shouting, "Uncle Albus! Quick!" The door flew open as he reached it and Harry barreled through to find the Headmaster just getting up from his desk, worry evident on his face. With a wave of the Headmaster's wand, the office door sealed itself shut before he even asked what was going on.

"Harry! What is wrong?"

"Quirrell!" Harry was still panting from his long run. "He called me to his office and tried to break into my mind!" Albus was in front of him in a flash, his blue eyes boring into Harry's.

"Did he succeed? Did he get the prophecy?"

"No. But he hadn't tried very hard before I ran out of the room. I think he is chasing me." Albus turned instantly to the brilliant red and gold bird perched by his desk.

"We will need the Minister, Fawkes. If you could fetch him for me as quickly as possible?" The phoenix dipped his head in acknowledgement and disappeared in a ball of flame. Albus turned back to Harry. "We will take care of it, Harry. But first we must not make him wary. It will be necessary to trick Quirrell into thinking that I don't believe you if we are to capture him. He will already be on his guard." Harry nodded his understanding. He sunk in to an armchair as Albus opened the door and greeted the once more stuttering Quirrell who was just then coming up the stairs.

"Quirinus! To what do I owe this visit?"

"P…P…Potter, Headmaster. We h…h…had a d…d…disagreement and he seems t…t…to think I was a…a…attacking him."

"That, indeed, was young Harry's story. But I knew better than to trust the word of an eleven year-old boy against one of my colleagues. I'm sure it is all just a misunderstanding that we can clear up. Would you care to step in?" Albus stood aside and let the young man in to the office, waiting until Quirrell's back was turned to tap the door quietly with his wand, sealing it. "Now, Harry, tell me what happened."

"He attacked me, Sir! He tried to break in to my mind."

"That is not possible, Harry. Professor Quirrell does not know how to perform Legilimency. Perhaps you were just angry at him and imagined it?" Harry was impressed by the condescension that the Headmaster was able to put in to his words.

"No, I didn't!"

"Of course he d…d…did, P…P…Professor! I would n…n…never attack a st…t…tudent."

"Certainly, Quirinus. That is why I have asked Minister Fudge here so that he can hear your testimony yourself and prevent this from going any further." Following Albus' words, a ball of flame exploded in the center of the office revealing the forms of Fawkes and a somewhat confused Cornelius Fudge. Harry had never met the minister before, but he thought it odd that the man was wearing a purple and green pinstriped robe and cloak, along with a bowler hat. Didn't he know how ridiculous it made him look? "Ah, Minister! Welcome! We have some charges that I thought it best to deal with in your presence." Quirrell's eyes turned to watch the Minister, as Albus had been hoping they would. He could not risk him having any time to fight back.

"Dumbledore, this is highly unusual! What is going on here?" Albus' wand was out in a flash, and Quirrell was stunned before he even saw the red light coming for him. Fudge stood sputtering to the side.

"One of my professors is possessed by the spirit of Lord Voldemort. Harry confirmed my suspicions only this afternoon." The Minister flinched at the name.

"You-Know-Who? Possessing one of your teachers? That is preposterous, Albus!"

"Is it?" Dumbledore shot a jet of sickly yellow light at the prone form of Quirrell.

Harry watched in horror as the man's absurd turban split open and a form seemed to emerge from the back of his head. Before Harry could ask what was happening, he felt his scar nearly split open in pain and a battering ram attack the shields around his mind. The subtle probing in Quirrell's office had been nothing compared to this. He felt like he would crumble under the weight of it. For a minute he wondered if it was even worth fighting it, it seemed hopeless, then he realized what the force was searching for. He could feel _something_ digging for information, for what he knew about Voldemort and the Prophecy. But Harry wouldn't give it to him. It was only one more week until he was home with Sirius and got to tell Ginny everything. And nothing was going to prevent him from telling Ginny the truth first. The stupid professor could try all he wanted, but Harry was determined. His friend would learn the truth before anyone else. As Harry made this decision, he felt the force leave his mind, though his scar burned even more. It was like he could feel the _thing's_ anger at not getting what it wanted. Finally, the pain was so much that Harry collapsed under it and knew no more.

* * *

Harry woke up a little disoriented. The last thing he could remember was wishing he would die so that the pain would stop. But it didn't seem like he was dead. He imagined that it would hurt a lot less if he was dead. He sat up clumsily in bed and reached for his glasses on the bedside table. The hospital wing came in to focus, and Harry saw a large dog curled up on the foot of his bed. Sirius always did like to sleep in his animagus form. Harry's shifting caused the dog to wake up, and Padfoot bounced up to him and happily licked his face until Harry shoved him away. "Eww! Padfoot, get off of me!"

"I think he is simply happy to see you awake again. You've been out for three days." Harry looked up to see the smiling form of Albus Dumbledore looking down on him. "How are you feeling, Harry?"

"Like my head has been split in two. What happened?"

"Lord Voldemort, who was possessing poor Professor Quirrell, when forced out of his host attempted to possess you and gain access to the information about the Prophecy that he suspects you know."

"Voldemort possessed me?"

"He tried to. He discovered, much to his extreme anger, that he was unable to do so. His anger was so great that you felt it through the scar on your forehead. The pain was enough to knock you out for several days."

"Why couldn't he possess me?"

"That, Harry, is something I am very much interested in myself. Can you remember what you were thinking of as you were fighting his intrusion?" Harry scrunched up his face and thought for a few minutes. He had known that whoever was attacking him was after the Prophecy, and he remembered being absolutely determined that the first person he was going to tell was Ginny.

"I was thinking about Ginny. I didn't want anyone to know about the Prophecy before I got to tell her." Albus' eyes twinkled at him, amused by the obvious discomfort that Harry was feeling. Albus did not think it was the time to try and explain to the young boy that it was perfectly fine for him to be thinking about his friend.

"Then I suspect it was your loyalty to your friend that was unendurable to Lord Voldemort, who, after all, has never been loyal to anyone other than himself." Albus didn't think it was necessary to tell Harry that it probably wasn't loyalty that had driven Voldemort out of his mind. The boy was only eleven, after all. There was plenty of time for him to learn what he truly felt about young Ginevra. But it might be wise to have a talk with Molly before that happened. He would also need to upgrade the wards around the Burrow. It would never due for Voldemort to discover how Harry felt about the youngest Weasley and try to attack the house. But that could be dealt with later. Albus turned his attention back to Harry.

"Sir? What happened to Quirrell?" Albus suspected that Harry was trying to change the subject to one less uncomfortable to him.

"As soon as Voldemort left him, he died, Harry." It saddened Albus that there had been nothing he could do for the young man. But Voldemort is just as merciless to his followers as to those that stand in his way.

"And the Minister? Why did you want him there?" Albus raised an eyebrow at this question; it was very perceptive of Harry.

"Sirius has only recently pointed out to me that it might be best to alert the Ministry to the fact that Voldemort is not, in fact, gone permanently. This way, when he does eventually return, the wizarding world might be better prepared for it." Harry nodded and tried, but failed, to hide a large yawn. "I think you should try to rest more, Harry. Sirius will make sure nothing happens to you." Indeed, Albus thought it would be physically impossible to get the large dog to leave Harry alone for the next few days. He would have to advise Madam Pomfrey that there would be a dog in residence until Harry was released.

Harry nodded tiredly. As Albus left the room he curled up against the dog and once more fell asleep, leaving Albus to ponder the puzzle that was Harry James Potter.

* * *

It was several days later that Albus appeared suddenly on the walk leading to a dilapidated house that was only held up by copious amounts of magic. The Burrow certainly did have a lot of character. But perhaps that was due more to the people that lived there than the house itself. He walked purposely forward and knocked on the door.

"Albus! Come in!" Molly Weasley looked shocked to see him once more upon her doorstep, but this did not stop her from trying to force several snacks upon him. Which he politely declined. It would not do for him to lose his focus on this visit.

"No, thank you, Molly. I wish to speak with you. Where is your daughter this fine morning?"

"She is playing over at the Lovegood's today. We thought it best she have some female companionship, she spends so much time around the boys."

"A marvelous idea. It is one of those boys that brings me here today."

"What have the twins done now?" Her face took on an expression remarkably similar to a saber tooth tiger. Albus made a mental note never to cross Molly Weasley. He quite enjoyed having the use of all four of his limbs.

"Nothing out of the ordinary, for them. No, I wish to speak to you about young Mr. Potter and his friendship with Ginevra."

"She isn't annoying him too much, is she? I told her to leave the poor boy alone. He has enough to deal with without admiring fans following him around." Albus chuckled at her misinterpretation. If he was reading things correctly, it was not young Ginevra that was following Harry around. In fact, it might be the exact opposite.

"Actually, her friendship has been very good for Harry. Several days ago Lord Voldemort tried to possess Harry and enter his mind." He paused to allow Molly to gasp in shock and fear. She had never met a child that she did not try to mother, and Harry was no exception. He had no doubt that the idea of someone trying to harm Harry was deeply upsetting to her. "Harry was able to expel him without too much difficulty."

"Harry was able to push out _You-Know-Who_? How?"

"By thinking of his friendship with your daughter."

"With Ginny? But he doesn't even know her that well! They haven't even seen each other all year."

"Ah, but young Harry discovered a way for them to write to each other whenever they wish. Rather like an instant quill pal. They have been writing all year, from what I understand. Ginevra has helped Harry many times this year, not the least of which was the instance I just mentioned. She enabled Harry to do something that few, if any, wizards are capable of."

"But how? Simply because she is his friend? That doesn't make sense. He is friends with Ron as well, not to mention Hermione and Neville."

"Yes, he is. But his friendship with Ginevra is something special. In fact, that is what I wish to talk to you about. I do not think it is merely friendship, though I do not think Harry realizes that quite yet."

"Albus, what do you mean?" Molly's face had lost most of its color, making an odd contrast with her vivid hair.

"I am fairly certain that at some point, and maybe not too distantly in the future, Harry is going to fall in love with your daughter. And I'm fairly sure that she will return that feeling." Albus watched carefully as Molly processed this new information. After all, he had just told her that her ten year old daughter was going to fall in love very soon, and with the most famous wizard in the world who just happened to have a deranged madman after him. He was certain she could use a minute or two.

"Ginny and… Harry? Are you sure, Albus?"

"Yes. I have watched Harry very closely this year. And then the incident a couple of days ago confirmed my suspicions. Simple friendship would not be enough to expel Lord Voldemort, but love most definitely would. Especially such a love as I believe those two will eventually share. Their manifesting an attachment so young intrigues me, but we will have more time to examine this in the next few years. The reason I came today is because I wish to upgrade the wards around your home. It will soon become imperative that young Ginevra have the highest level of protection available. I do not think Harry would take well to something happening to her; I prefer to avoid the possibility if we can." Molly nodded mutely, probably too shocked to speak. Albus chuckled to himself and gave her a few minutes to compose herself. His improvements would require her to be more… present than she appeared to be now. But he could wait.

* * *

A/N: Sorry for the delay. But I am back from my vacation now and so updates should be more regular. I have had lots of time to think about the plot of this story, however. We learned a lot about the relationship between Harry and Ginny in this chapter. However, they will not become romantically involved for several years yet. She's only ten for goodness sake. I think I will go with what JKR has said—they will be soul mates but not soul bonded. I don't really want to give Harry any unusual powers; it doesn't really fit with the world JKR created. I have animagus forms for Harry and Ginny, but I would very much appreciate suggestions for Ron (and quickly, I need them for the next chapter). I am still undecided on him. I want something protective but with a fierce temper… Anyways, I hope you enjoy, and as always all questions asked in review will receive an answer and I look forward to your thoughts.


	9. Discoveries of an Interesting Nature

Harry couldn't calm himself down enough to start unpacking. He had only been home a couple of hours, but Sirius had already promised that tomorrow the others could come over and they could find out their animagus forms. Harry couldn't contain his excitement. He had been hoping to talk Sirius in to a late night fly, they had had them often enough growing up, but Sirius had sent him up to unpack because Uncle Albus was downstairs and they were having one of their grown-up discussions. Though Harry privately wondered how anyone could classify Sirius as a grown-up. But did they honestly expect that sending him upstairs was enough to keep Harry from listening in? He was the son of a Marauder, and had been raised by the other two. Breaking rules was a part of his essential makeup. As quietly as he could he snuck downstairs under his cloak and sat right outside the door to the front room, listening hard.

"Do you think he'll try again soon?" Sirius sounded worried. But then again, he worried a lot these days. Sometimes Harry didn't think that being his guardian was a very healthy job for the man.

"Undoubtedly. I've never known Tom Riddle to accept failure. He must be livid that his attempt to return was thwarted by a mere boy. And in a way he cannot possibly understand." Tom Riddle? Who was that? But they were talking about him, they always talked about him. And the only person he had defeated in the last… well, ever, was Voldemort. Interesting. Maybe Riddle _was_ Voldemort.

"But will he succeed soon?" This didn't sound good. Harry knew he wasn't ready to really face Voldemort yet. He need years more to get ready.

"That is an interesting question. I do not believe he can succeed alone, so he will need to find a willing servant to help him. And the only ones who have remained out of prison seem to no longer believe he is coming back. But he will succeed eventually. And I feel that it won't be too long. Harry will need to be ready." Harry fervently nodded his head, before he remembered that no one could see him, and that he really didn't want to be seen.

"Yes. Remus and I have been working with him. It is much slower over the summer since he can't use magic. But I promised him I would find him a fencing instructor. Thought it might be useful—teach him discipline and all that. And I'm going to help him become an animagus." Harry silently hoped that Albus wasn't going to throw a fit about that. It was illegal, after all.

"I thought you might. It will be useful if he is able to develop that particular skill. We should also decide what we wish to teach him next year at school." Albus paused for a moment. "I think it might be wise to involve some of his friends in his sessions. Particularly young Ginevra. Her presence will help Harry with the material, and it will be good for her in her own right." Ginny? Why did they want Ginny to train with him? It was much too dangerous for her to be involved in that kind of stuff. And yet, Harry didn't think he could keep it from her. After all, they already had permission from Mrs. Weasley for Ginny to stay after everyone else went home tomorrow. Harry had some things he wanted to tell her.

"I suppose you're right about them. Though I certainly hope it takes him a few years to figure it out. He's only eleven." He wished they would quit being so cryptic. It was really annoying to eavesdrop when he didn't understand what they were talking about.

"We shall see." Of course, Uncle Albus was always cryptic. Even when he knew you were there.

Harry heard the sounds of chairs scraping against the floor and hastily darted up the stairs. It wouldn't due to be caught eavesdropping. Not that he understood all of what they were talking about, but it was the principal of the matter.

But it was interesting that Voldemort seemed to have a different name. For he had no doubt that Tom Riddle and Lord Voldemort were one and the same. Perhaps Hermione would be able to find something about that. He would have to ask her tomorrow. As he swiftly climbed the stairs he shuddered at the look of excitement that would no doubt spread over her face when he asked her to research something that no one seemed to know about it. But it would give her something to do this summer while they all practiced being animagi.

* * *

Sirius came down the stairs to find Harry literally bouncing in his seat at the table.

"Little excited there, kid?" Harry rolled his eyes at Sirius.

"Ginny and the others are coming over today, of course I'm excited. And we get to find out our animagus forms… if I have one." Harry's voice faded at the end, as if he truly was worrying about that very thing.

"I'm sure you do, kid. It's in your blood."

"I hope I can fly… that would be great." Harry looked wistfully out the window at the clouds floating by. "But at the same time I want to be big enough to help you with Uncle Moony every month. Maybe I could be a stag like dad was."

Sirius shook his head at Harry's ramblings and quietly left the room. Harry would probably never notice.

* * *

Harry wasn't quite sure where he was. It's possible that he was in the middle of a forest, because he was pretty sure there were lots of trees. But as he wasn't entirely sure of his own size, it's possible they weren't trees at all. Maybe he was just an ant in the middle of a grassy plain. He pondered these options for a few minutes before he remembered what he was supposed to be doing here—looking for an animagus form. He hadn't been looking for long when he heard the sound of a bird singing, a strange and unearthly sound that was nonetheless beautiful. For some reason, it made him feel—well he wasn't exactly sure how to describe it, but he felt like he could do anything he set his mind to. Following the sound of the song, Harry turned around in time to see a magnificent bird land on a tree—if that's what they were—not far from him. It was the size of a swan, but instead of pure white it was black as night. It looked vaguely familiar, and it only took Harry a minute to realize that it looked strikingly like Dumbledore's pet phoenix, Fawkes. Was he going to be able to transform in to a phoenix? Harry was thrilled at the possibility. He just barely had time to notice that the phoenix had his brilliant green eyes and a thin scar on its forehead, and then he noticed the snake.

It was vivid green, and gave off an air of extreme menace. When it raised its head to look at Harry, he saw that it had red eyes, eyes that for some reason sent a chill through Harry's heart. He was sure he had seen those eyes before, but he could not remember where. For some reason, he was afraid for the phoenix, as if he knew the snake was capable of harming it. Despite how he felt about the phoenix, he had no desire to be able to turn in to that snake. This thought had barely formed when Harry let out a scream of warning. But he was too late. The snake had already reared and sunk his fangs into the magnificent bird, and as Harry watched in horror the two animals merged together until in their place there was an entirely new animal.

It was a dragon.

It was relatively small, only six feet or so, and as black as the phoenix had been. From what he could remember of Ginny's notes after visiting Charlie, he was pretty sure it was a Peruvian Vipertooth, despite its color. It looked like one. He was relieved; at least a dragon was better than that awful snake, though he did miss the phoenix. He examined it carefully as Sirius had told him to, and then sat back down on the ground. Sirius had said that as soon as he was done he would wake up.

Only Harry did not wake up.

He sat waiting for a long time. Just when he was starting to get nervous, he felt a pair of eyes on his back. Nervously, Harry turned around to find that a brilliant red lioness was sitting behind him, eyeing him curiously with chocolate brown eyes. It felt… familiar somehow. And safe. Perhaps this was why he wasn't afraid when the lioness got up and padded closer. He let it rub against him, and brought his hand up to tangle in its fur. It felt like silk. That seemed odd. He would have thought it would have course hair. The lioness looked at him one last time before walking off towards the waiting dragon. The dragon looked as if it was expecting the giant cat and made no move to complain when the lioness snuggled in to its side.

Harry didn't even notice when the lioness disappeared, he was too busy watching the dragon slowly change. It developed short red horns and spikes along its tail and back. Its shape shifted until Harry couldn't tell if it was still a Vipertooth, somehow it looked more like a Chinese Fireball now. This reassured him. The Chinese were the only culture that saw dragons as innately good creatures. He watched the dragon for several more minutes and was just about to prepare to wake up once again when the dragon raised its head and looked directly at him with its emerald eyes. As Harry felt a pull on his mind, calling him back to the world, the dragon opened its mouth and released a stream of brilliant red fire directly at him.

Harry woke up screaming.

"Calm down, kid. Nothing really happened. You're just fine." Sirius didn't even seem fazed that he had woken up screaming. Indeed, he seemed to have been expecting it.

"Did you know that would happen?" Harry asked with questioning eyes.

"Don't even know what did happen. But the end of the trance is usually somewhat… dramatic, I guess you could say."

"You could have warned me."

"And what would be the fun in that?"

Harry glared at his godfather, then pulled himself slowly to his feet. He looked around to find his friends all sitting on couches waiting for him.

"Was I out longer than you guys?"

"You were out twice as long as Ron," Hermione answered immediately, a hint of disapproval in her voice. She had absolutely refused to become an animagus—it would be breaking so many rules!—but that hadn't stopped her from wanting to be here today—it would be so fascinating to observe the process! "But only a little bit longer than Ginny."

"What about you, Nev?" Harry asked the boy.

"I didn't see anything," he said quietly. "But I still want to help you guys."

"Don't worry about it, Neville. Very few wizards do have animagus forms. I'm quite surprised that the three of you all seem to. There's nothing to be ashamed of." Hermione appeared to have digested several books since being informed of their plan to become animagi. Or quite possibly more than several.

"Yeah," the round-faced boy answered. "But it sure would have been cool."

"So what did you guys see?" Harry asked, turning to the two Weasley siblings.

"It was fantastic!" Ron let out excitedly, "I saw a huge wolf. He had this fantastic gray coat and he looked really strong and powerful."

"Oh, Ron," Hermione began excitedly, "I bet it's because how fiercely loyal you are, especially of your family!"

"Yeah! And even better, he was huge. I'll be able to scare the twins anytime I want!"

"Idiot." Ginny muttered, rolling her eyes.

"What did you see, Gin?"

"Well, it was a little weird. At first I saw this brilliant lioness. She was all red and had my eyes." Ginny didn't notice Harry shifting uncomfortably in his chair. "I was so excited; I always thought I would be some kind of cat. But before she could get very close to me she paused, as if unsure of something. Suddenly she looked up and watched this great big bird fly down and land next to her. I'm not sure what kind of bird it was, it was all black except for its eyes—they were green." Again, Harry shifted in his seat. "It looked a little like a swan."

"Oh, it was probably a phoenix, though I've never heard of a black one before." Hermione put in.

"Yeah, maybe. Anyways, the lioness and the phoenix kind of sat there for awhile, then the lioness snuggled up to the phoenix, it was like they were mates, or something." This time Harry's fidgeting drew Sirius attention, but the Marauder didn't comment on it—yet. "They were so close together that it was difficult to separate them, and they seemed obliviously to me. I got a little bored and was looking around for a few minutes. When I looked back at them they weren't there." She paused nervously. "Sirius, is it possible to have a magical animagus form?"

"I don't see why not. Not that I've heard of anyone who does. Why? What did you see?"

"A magnificent griffin. It had the front of a red eagle, and the back of a golden lion, but with red hair on the end of its tail." Ginny looked unsure of herself as she said this.

"I saw a magical form, too, Gin." Harry wanted to reassure her. Yet he was a little nervous about telling his story. Maybe he wouldn't mention the lioness. It was going to be bad enough for him and Ginny when he mentioned the phoenix without that. "At first I saw a phoenix," he tried to ignore the way Ginny's eyes went wide at this news. "He was brilliant, had my eyes and scar and everything. Then a vivid green snake came slithering towards it. It attacked the phoenix, and in their struggle a new creature emerged—a dragon. It looked like a mix between a Vipertooth and a Fireball. It was all black except for some red spikes on its back and red horns. And its fire was scarlet, that's why I was screaming." Harry tried to ignore the way Sirius was looking at him curiously, but it was harder to ignore his questions.

"Black with red spikes, huh? What color was the phoenix originally?"

"Black."

"And the snake?"

"Green, but with the weirdest red eyes." Harry tried to suppress a shudder. "They frightened me."

"Red, slit-like eyes?" Sirius asked, a new edge to his voice.

"Yeah."

"I've only met one person with those eyes before. They are very distinctive."

"Who?" Harry was almost reluctant to ask. But they has seemed so _familiar_.

Sirius looked anxiously at the others who were watching him curiously. They didn't know about the Prophecy and he had no desire to say anything that might lead to it. Hermione was especially good at picking up clues like that. But he didn't think Harry would let it go without an answer. Maybe he could disguise it so that no one else knew what he was talking about; he was fairly certain Harry had heard his discussion with Albus last night. He should recognize the name.

"Tom."

Harry cringed. He recognized that name. "Can I never get away from him," he whispered. Sirius didn't answer, just silently shook his head. But Harry knew the answer anyways. There was no escaping the Prophecy and all that it implied.

As Sirius began explaining the complicated process of becoming animagi, Harry's thoughts returned to his strange vision. He supposed it made sense that Voldemort had affected his form. But why Ginny? And how was his influence enough to change hers in to a magical form? He was going to have to think about this.

* * *

"How come Ginny gets to stay?" Ron whined as they were being shown to the floo.

"You guys have got to spend all year together at school." Sirius explained, for the third time. "We just wanted to do something special for Ginny so that she didn't feel left out."

Ron stared at him for several seconds as if he didn't quite believe the story he had been told. But Sirius was an excellent liar—as he pointed out, it took one to get past McGonagall. Reluctantly, Ron took a pinch of powder and disappeared into the emerald flames. Neville and Hermione followed him out, Hermione looking back with an odd expression on her face as she watched Harry and Ginny. Once the flames had returned to their normal color Sirius tapped the mantle with his wand, once more sealing the floo to the outside, then turned to the two remaining children.

"Well, kids, the house is yours. Don't stay up too late, and let me know if you need anything." He left with a parting warning glance at Harry, to which Harry only nodded. They had talked about what Harry would tell Ginny many times.

"Why is he leaving?" Ginny asked curiously. "I don't mind if we spend time with Sirius. He's like the additional big brother I never wanted." Her mouth twisted up in to a smile. "If I didn't already have so many of my own I would love him furiously."

"Oh, he wouldn't mind hanging out with us. I think he still wants to make up that last chess game you beat him at, but he knows that I have something important I want to tell you."

"Harry," she was looking at him very curiously, "why do you look so nervous? Nothing is wrong, is it?"

"Well, kind of, but…" he grabbed her hand and pulled her towards the couch. "Why don't you sit down." Harry looked at the floor for a few minutes, making sure he really wanted to tell her this, then looked up into her curious eyes. "Remember I told you about how Voldemort attacked me again a few weeks ago, and how he was fighting to break in to my mind?"

"Yes, you said he was trying to find out about something, but you wouldn't let him in."

"That's right. The reason Uncle Albus taught me Occlumency in the first place was to keep anyone from finding out about what I'm going to tell you."

"They why are you going to tell me? Shouldn't you keep a secret if it is so important?"

"I don't want to keep any secrets from you; you're my best friend, Gin." Ginny blushed spectacularly and looked down.

"Thanks, Harry." She was barely whispering, and looking down as she fought a blush of her own.

"The thing is…" he paused, frustrated with how to start. "You know that Voldemort tried to kill me when I was a baby, and that his curse rebounded on him and took away his body."

"Of course, you already told me this."

"Yes, well, did you ever wonder _why_ he tried to kill me in the first place?"

"Weren't you just in the way? I thought he came after your parents and just decided to take you out, too."

"Not quite. Sure he didn't like my parents; they had fought against him for many years. But the reason he showed up at our house, the reason he killed my parents and tried to kill me, is because of a prophecy made just before I was born."

"A prophecy?" Ginny's brown eyes were big as she looked up at him.

"Yes. It was made to Dumbledore, but one of the Death Eaters overheard the first part and told Voldemort about it. And so Voldemort came after me, thinking that he could kill me, that he _needed_ to kill me."

"What did it say?"

_"The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches ... Born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies ... And the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not ... And either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives ..."_

Harry watched as Ginny slowly digested what he had told her. He knew from experience that it was a lot to take in and that she would need some time. He was perfectly prepared to give her that. So he was a little shocked when she stared at the ground for only a few seconds, then looked up with a blazing look in her eyes. She threw her arms around him and hugged him tight to her.

"Well then we'll just have to make sure you kill that bastard, won't we?" She whispered in his ear.

Harry, shocked and a little confused, wrapped his arms around her small waist and drew her even closer.

"Thanks, Gin."

Yes, he was glad he told her.

* * *

A/N: So, here begins year two of my little story, in the longest chapter yet! A lot of important things happened in this chapter, so I hope it didn't disappoint. After long consideration I decided to make Ron a wolf. It was pretty much either that or a dog, and I though a wolf was cooler. As for Harry and Ginny's form. I, along with most of the fanfic world, think that Harry was born to be a phoenix. But I just hate doing what other people have already done so well. I wanted to be different. That got me started on the whole your connections with people can change your form thing. And once Harry's had been changed I couldn't very well leave Ginny's alone. But I very much appreciate all your input. Though the people who voted for a spider sure made me laugh, even if I couldn't bear to give Ron a heart attack by making him one.

And do you have a better idea about what it was about Ginny that made that dragon back down?

Oh, and I'm taking suggestions for pranks for them to play on Lockhart. Make them good, please!


	10. Summer Adventures

* * *

Harry stood in a clearing, a long wooden sword in his hand, slowly going through the forms he had learned this morning. Ron had lost most of his enthusiasm for learning the sword when Harry's fencing master, Giardi, had informed them this morning that they would not actually be learning to fight with their swords, or indeed even be allowed to pretend to fight with them, until several more weeks had passed. They had to learn discipline first. Harry had a feeling that Ron wouldn't be joining their morning sessions very much. Ginny, on the other hand, was thrilled to. She liked the idea that this was an ability that depended more on skill and discipline than strength. Ginny's enthusiasm was what led to Harry standing in the middle of the forest to practice forms. Harry was going to have to work very hard if he was going to keep up with her.

"Thought you'd practice without me, Potter?"

"Hey Gin," he said, turning to meet her. "I have to practice if I'm going to keep up with you."

"That's right, Potter, and don't you forget it." She bugged her nails against her shirt as she smirked at him. "If you wanted to take a break from that, Sirius says he would work with us on our transformations for a bit."

Harry needed no more encouragement. He quickly turned back towards the house, grabbing Ginny's hand to pull her along with him. "Maybe we'll even be able to get it before Ron!" Ginny laughed with him as the two children hurried towards the house.

"Just imagine the look on his face when we can transform before he does. Even better, imagine the look on the _twins_ faces when they learn that we are animagi. It is going to be fantastic."

"You are assuming that you'll be able to get it as quickly as I will, Potter. Rather presumptuous of you, don't you thing?"

"Not at all. It's in my blood."

"I suppose."

* * *

"Alright, kids. You need to concentrate all of your thought upon your form. See as many details as you can remember in your mind." Sirius watched the two children in front of him as they screwed up their eyes in concentration. It gave him a healthy glow of pride to watch his godson try so hard at this task. Harry was trying so hard to follow in his father's footsteps. He really was so much like James. And yet, at the same time, Harry is more serious than James ever was, at least during school. Harry knew what evil he would have to face in the world, and he did not shy away from it. Indeed, he worked most of the day to learn all he could and prepare as much as he was able. James never would have been capable of that. Sirius only hoped it would be enough.

"Are you ready?" The two children nodded, eyes still closed. "Good. Then what you are going to try to do is get your hand, just one hand, to change into the hand of your animal."

"Um, how?" Ginny asked quietly, one eye peeping open to look at him.

"You have to try to reach for your magic, without the aid of a wand. Act as if you were going to cast a spell. Harry, it might help if you try to feel for the same magic that you use in transfiguration. You have to try and push all your magic down in to your hand and force it out in the shape of your new hand." Sirius watched as the two children struggled in front of him. He knew it was difficult for them. It had taken him and James over two years to master this transformation. But then again, they had no coach besides themselves. He was hoping that Harry and Ginny, at least, might be able to transform in less time than that. They were both extremely talented and had a great deal of determination. He watched them for many long minutes struggle with their magic.

"This is so frustrating!" Ginny erupted, her eyes snapping open to look at him.

"Yes, I know it is. It will take some time for you to see any progress."

"But we've been at it for weeks already!" As Ginny exclaimed, her anger rose in her large brown eyes.

"Gin!" Harry turned to look at her, opening his own eyes for the first time. "We'll make it work. We'll get it."

"But it's taking too long!"

"I know, but we can do this." Harry's voice took on a strong determined tone. "We _will_ do this."

As Harry looked at her, his hand laying over hers in an attempt to comfort her, his eyes flashed with unwavering determination to make this work. Harry was not looking at his own hand, but watching Ginny carefully. Thus it was that he was a little confused when Sirius exclaimed, "What the… Harry, your hand!" Harry quickly pulled his hand back and only barely caught a glimpse of black scales and a long nail.

"Sirius! I did it! Did you see?"

"Yes, kid. You were able to transform one of your fingers into that of the dragon. Very good. Try and see if you can do it again."

Harry nodded and screwed up his concentration once more. But in the next hour, Harry was unable to once more transform any part of his hand. But this did not dampen his spirit any. Even so much of a transformation was encouraging.

* * *

There was only two weeks left in the summer and Harry was starting to lose some of his determination. He had thought that once he was able to transform some piece of himself, the rest would be easier. This hadn't been the case. He hadn't even been able to replicate the transformation from several weeks ago.

"You're trying too hard, kid. It won't work if you are frustrated."

"But this is just so _annoying_! How come I could change something that once and haven't been able to since?"

"I'm not really sure. But it is nothing to get upset about. It took your dad and me years to get the transformation to work, and we were older than you. You'll get it eventually; you just have to keep trying and not let it get to you."

Sirius had once again spent the afternoon working with Harry on his animagus transformation. And since that one day he had managed to change a finger, he hadn't been able to make any visible progress. And the summer was almost over. He wouldn't have nearly as much time to work on it during the school year, not to mention trying to do it without Sirius' help.

"How come this is so hard?"

"You can't expect everything to be easy. Anything worth accomplishing takes a lot of hard work. You haven't complained about all the hard work you've put in to your fencing class."

"Yeah, but at least I'm getting _better_ at it. Unlike this."

"That's a matter of opinion, kid. Doesn't Ginny beat you every time you spar?"

"I can't help it that she's wicked fast." Harry rolled his eyes at his laughing godfather.

"Yeah, but what does it say about you, mister hero of the wizarding world, that you let a _girl_ beat you?"

"Ginny's more than just a girl, and I don't care that she beats me."

Sirius just smirked at him in amusement. The kid had no idea how he felt about the youngest Weasley, and it didn't seem like he would be figuring it out any time soon. But that was alright. Sirius wasn't quite ready for him to be all grown up yet. Harry deserved as much of a childhood as Sirius could give him. He owed it to Lily and James.

"Come on, kid. Try one more time."

* * *

_Hey Harry! You'll never guess what happened today!_

_Then you'd better tell me._

_Well, you know we went to Diagon Alley to pick up our school supplies. Mum and I spent most of the day getting my things, as I had the most to buy. Everything was normal and we were almost done, just had my books left, when Mum pulled me down the street into Ollivander's! I have my own wand!_

_Well of course you do. How else are you going to do magic?_

_No, Harry, you don't understand. Mum had already told me that she had Grandmum Prewett's wand already for me. I wasn't expecting to get a brand new one._

_That is pretty cool! What kind did you get?_

_Hazel and gryphon heartstring._

_Gryphon heartstring? I didn't know Ollivander used that._

_He doesn't. He said it came from one of his friends._

_That's fantastic, Gin. Magic always works better with your own wand. Do you think it has anything to do with your animagus form?_

_I think so. Ollivander seemed quite surprised that a gryphon wand chose me. He said something about them being very rare wand cores and not choosing many wizards or witches. But I guess if it is my animagus form them I must have some affinity for gryphons that the wand recognized. _

_I can't believe your bought you a wand. She always seems to throw such a fit over thinks like that._

_I know. I did try to talk Mum out of it. Wands are so expensive, and I felt so guilty that she was spending so much. But then she told me not to worry about it. She said that Sirius had paid for it as a late birthday present. _

_Sirius? He bought you a wand?_

_Yes._

_But, why? That just seems so odd._

_I know. And when I asked Mum about it she just told me to hush and got the strangest look on her face. Something is definitely up._

_How odd. I'll ask him about it._

_Okay, just make sure not to mention it in front of Ron. I don't want to hurt his feelings since I got a new wand and he didn't. I don't think he would take it well._

_Sure. You really did have a weird day._

_Oh! I haven't even told you the weirdest part yet!_

_There's more?_

_Yes! So after we got my wand, Mum and I met the rest of the family to get our books. There were all these people there. Gilderoy Lockhart was signing copies of his biography or something. It was a madhouse. _

_Who's that?_

_Some guy who had done all this fantastic stuff. Mum is always talking about him. And by the way Hermione was talking about him today I think he must be a really powerful wizard or something. It was almost like she fancied him. Come to think of it, maybe she does fancy him. He's won all these awards for being handsome and stuff. He wrote like half our booklist, too. Anyways, we were waiting in line to get our stuff when Malfoy and his father came in. I never realized how much Draco is like his dad. Now I know where he learned it all. They made quite a scene._

_He didn't hurt you, did he?_

_No. He tried to make some snide comment. Only he never got the words out of his mouth. My wand made a lovely debut with the bat bogey hex. It is much stronger when I can cast it with my own wand instead of having to… borrow someone else's. It took his dad ages to get the bogies off of him. Shut him right up._

_That's fantastic! Wish I had been there to see it._

_It was hilarious. Mum was livid at me, though. Only she couldn't get too angry at me, because as I was cursing Malfoy Jr, Dad was getting into a fist fight with Malfoy Sr. _

_You're kidding!_

_Nope. Dad gave him a lovely black eye. The twins said they've never been so proud of him before. And Dad was going on and on about how he wanted to catch Malfoy Sr doing something dark. He just knows he was a Death Eater._

_A Death Eater?_

_That's what they called Voldemort's followers last time. _

_Seems like a weird name. Wonder why they call themselves that._

_No idea. We'll have to ask Hermione._

_Wow, you really did have quite the day. Wish I could have been there to curse Malfoy with you. He deserves it._

_You can get him at school. I'm sure we'll have plenty of opportunities to introduce him to some of the more… interesting uses of magic. Now that I'll be there with you we should be able to prank him better. _

_True, you are much better at it than me._

_Much more practice, Harry. Years of pranking Fred and George will teach you a thing or two. So what did you due today? Practice fencing without me?_

_No. All I did today was work on my stupid transformation. Again. Still can't get anything to happen. It is getting really frustrating._

_You'll get it. And I'll help._

_Thanks, Gin._

_I'm glad we get to talk like this, Harry._

_Me, too. You're my best friend._

_I know. You're a horrible influence on me, Potter._

_Hey! You're the one with all the devious little plots!_

_Who? Little me? No, I'm a good girl. Everyone knows that._

_Yeah, right. I don't buy that at all._

_That's cause I'm a good actress, everyone thinks there is no way little adorable Ginny could do anything wrong. It's why I get away with so much. Although I think Mum is starting to worry about me. I found a diary in my school books. I think she wants me to channel my creative juices into something besides pranking._

_A diary?_

_Yeah. But I don't think I am going to write in it. Why write in a stupid old book when I can write to you instead?_

_Thanks, Gin. Don't ever stop writing to me._

_Like you could ever get rid of me, Potter._

_Good thing. I don't want to get rid of you._

Ginny looked at the parchment in front of her, making a valiant but largely futile effort not to cry. Harry really did care about her. Harry Potter cared about little Ginny Weasley. She could hardly believe it. But it seemed a little odd to her that Harry was saying such things. Wasn't really like him at all. Hmm. Something was up.

_Okay, Harry. Out with it. What's wrong?_

_You know me too well._

_Yes. Now spill._

_I had another nightmare last night._

_Was it about Quirrell again?_

_No. This time I dreamed that Voldemort came after me and I couldn't fight him. I wasn't strong enough. And I watched him destroy everyone and everything I love. It was horrible. I couldn't do anything to stop him. I just had to sit there and watch him kill everyone. He had Sirius and Remus and… he had you. And I couldn't stop the BASTARD from hurting you. I'm sorry, Gin._

_Oh, Harry. It was just a dream. We're all fine._

_What if I'm not good enough, Gin? What if I can't beat him?_

_Don't talk like that! You will beat him, Harry! And not because of some stupid prophecy, either. You will beat him because you're you. And you're strong and brave and smart. And you will beat him because that bastard killed your parents and you and I both know you want to avenge them. And you will beat him because I believe in you. You hear that, Harry? You will beat him because I told you so, and we both know what happens when I don't get my way. Do you really want to risk my wrath my disappointing me? _

Ginny knew she was being a little silly, but that was the point. Harry had been like this several times this summer, and she only hoped that she was able to help him a little. She had to get him laughing again, and believing in himself. And if that meant being a little silly and over the top then she didn't mind. That's what friends are for.

_Thanks, Gin. I'm glad you're my friend. And I'm glad you know everything. It makes me feel better knowing you believe in me._

_I will always believe in you, Harry. Always!_

Harry was just turning the light off when she scrawled one last thing across the bottom of the parchment.

_And don't you forget it!_

He didn't think he ever could.

* * *

Somewhere in the forest outside Ottery St. Catchpole, a small house elf named Dobby was repeatedly twisting his ears in worry. He had finally escaped for a few precious hours from him horrible masters. He had to find Harry Potter and warn him not to go back to Hogwarts. But Dobby could not find Harry Potter. He knew that Harry Potter was nearby, but some strange magic was preventing him from finding him. And now he wouldn't be able to warn Harry Potter, and Harry Potter would die because of the evil plot at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft of Wizardry.

Crying in anguish the small house elf disappeared from the forest.

* * *

A/N: Hello all. So sorry for the wait. I had major writers block on this chapter. It took me forever. I knew what I wanted to accomplish but I just couldn't get it to work right. Hope this isn't too horrible. I really want to get to second year. A lot of really important things are going to happen next year, things that will set up most of the story.

Thanks for all the reviews and feedback. I really do appreciate it. I put a lot of effort in to trying to make this story good. Particularly things like the animagus forms. I wanted their forms to have many layers of meaning. So there are several things about their forms that won't be revealed for awhile. But it is all thought out.


	11. My Name is Tom

Harry sat back against the compartment window. He had promised to save Ginny and Ron a seat while they said goodbye to their Mum. Mrs. Weasley wasn't taking well to the idea of her youngest child and only daughter leaving for Hogwarts. Harry watched out the window as it took the combined strength of both Remus and Mr. Weasley to pull the redheaded matriarch away from Ginny. He was once again glad that Remus had come with them today; it looked like Ginny had been having trouble breathing, her Mum was holding her so tightly. He still didn't understand why the gateway to platform 9 ¾ had sealed itself. And if it hadn't been for Remus being there Sirius would have had to apparate him to Hogwarts. Harry really hadn't wanted to miss Ginny's first train ride. Luckily, the werewolf had known the spell to unlock the gateway and they had been able to get through.

Of course, Sirius was now convinced that there was a plot against Harry. He was exceptionally paranoid.

"Harry! It's so good to see you."

Harry turned to see Hermione standing in the doorway, her hair somehow looking bushier than he had remembered. He stood up and quickly pulled her in to a hug.

"Hey Hermione! You look good. Come tell me how your summer has been."

"Well, my parents took me on vacation, but I told you all about that in my letters. And then I spent most of the summer reading and preparing for the new school year. Were you able to get all of your summer work done?"

"Yes, Hermione. I didn't want to have to face your wrath if I didn't." He watched her with a small smile as she tried to decide whether to yell at him for teasing her, or praise him for getting his work done. She settled for sitting down on the seat opposite him.

"Where are Ron and Neville? Have you seen them yet?"

"Yeah, Ron is outside trying to fend off his mum. I promised to save him a seat. And Neville is a couple compartments down playing Exploding Snap with Dean and Seamus. He said he would join us later in the ride."

"Hey you lot!" Ron stood beaming in the doorway with Ginny standing nervously behind him. "Can we crash this party?"

"As if I could stop you," Harry grinned. He got up to help load their trunks into the overhead storage compartments.

"You must be Ron's little sister," Hermione was saying to Ginny.

"Yes, my name is Ginny. And you must be Hermione. It is a pleasure to meet you."

Hermione eagerly pulled Ginny down in to the seat beside her and started asking her all sorts of questions about what she expected this year. The older girl's excitement made Harry wonder if she ever felt awkward being the only girl in their group of friends last year. But Harry was glad to see Ginny talking happily. She had been very quite on the way to the train this morning. As Harry was watching the two girls talk Ginny looked up at him quickly and sent him a full smile before returning to her conversation.

"Hey, mate. Do you want to play chess?"

"That eager to boost your ego, are you?"

"Nah, my ego doesn't need the boost."

"Then maybe you should join Ginny and I tomorrow morning for our sword practice. I'm sure I could fix that problem for you." Ron blanched at the thought.

"Not necessary. I already know you can wipe the floor with me."

Harry laughed as Ron set up the chess set. "Let's see if we can get a good game in before Malfoy comes around to annoy us."

The two boys settled down to their game as the girls continued to talk. Several hours later they were joined by Neville, whose right eyebrow was slightly singed—though they politely ignored this. It wasn't until they were finishing up the last of their sweets from the cart that the compartment door slid open.

"Well, if it isn't Potty and the gang," Malfoy drawled. "Looks like you've found yourself a new blood traitor to protect, Potter."

Harry instantly reached out to grab a fistful full of Ron's robes to keep him from punching Malfoy. "Ginny? She doesn't need me to protect her. She does fabulous on her own." Harry hoped Ron didn't notice the slight blush on his cheeks when Ginny beamed at him for that comment.

"Really?" Malfoy asked turning to the youngest Weasley. "Bet you couldn't curse me if you tried."

Ginny smirked at him and pulled out her new wand. "Well, since you asked so nicely…"

Harry laughed as the jet of light hit the blond boy and he started clawing at his face, attempting to stop the attack of the giant bat bogeys. It really was such a nice spell that Ginny had found, and it was her specialty—she had learned to cast that spell at the tender age of seven, borrowing someone else's wand. The curse was even stronger now that she could use her own wand to cast it. Harry raised his own wand and sent the Slytherin flying in to the corridor so that Neville could shut the compartment door. Then he turned towards Hermione for the inevitable.

"Harry! You shouldn't be using magic on the train! And Ginny! I know you don't know any better, but that really wasn't very appropriate."

"Oh, I knew better. But little rich boys need to be taught a lesson every once in awhile, and he won't be bugging me again until he can rid himself of the memory."

"Ginny!"

Harry thought that Sirius himself would have been proud of the smirk on Ginny's face.

* * *

Harry quickly settled in to his second year at Hogwarts. Ginny's presence at the castle added a great deal of enjoyment, as the two were fast on their way to becoming the next generation of Marauders. In keeping with this goal, they spent some time nearly every day working on their animagus transformations. Ron generally joined them for these sessions, but the redheaded boy wasn't nearly as motivated as his best friend and sister. They wanted to be able to fly. To her very great surprise, Ginny had been invited by Professor Dumbledore to join Harry in his extra sessions. In addition to continuing with their sword training the two friends were learning a form of combat training most comparable to Muggle martial arts. It was supposed to help you become a better fighter if you could duck and dodge better. Also, they spent many evenings in Dumbledore's tower office learning the types of spells that would never be taught to them in class. These lessons encouraged both of the students to excel in all their studies, and for once Hermione had willing study partners. Ron had complained about how much time Harry was spending in the library (though Ginny privately thought it was more how much time he was spending with _her_) until Harry had silenced him using a rather ingenious spell that only allowed the victim to speak in Pig Latin for the next twenty-four hours. Ron thought the spell was so brilliant he wasted no time before casting it on Professor Lockhart.

Sadly, this did not seem to hinder the defense Professor in any of his lessons.

There was only one dark spot on Harry's happiness. Professor Lockhart would not leave him alone. The defense professor seemed to think that the best way to further his own career was to become Harry's mentor. Only Harry had enough mentors already to realize that the man was a complete buffoon. This view was cemented in early December.

Lockhart, in a vain attempt to influence Harry, organized a dueling club for the school. Not knowing beforehand who was running it, it wasn't hard for Harry to talk the others in to attending with him. All five Gryffindors groaned when they walked in to see not only Lockhart but Snape standing on the large platform. They could not imagine any positive scenario involving their two least favorite professors.

"That man actually thinks he can teach me anything worthwhile?" Harry muttered to Ginny. "This is going to be a complete was of time." Ginny privately agreed, until she caught the somewhat enamored look on Hermione's face as she gazed at the smiling Professor.

"Not necessarily. Maybe we can show up Lockhart so much everyone else will realize what a buffoon he is." Harry grinned at her, he liked this idea. Maybe they could finally convince Hermione that Lockhart was a fraud. The bushy-haired girl had not taken kindly to the idea that Lockhart's books might not be entirely truthful, despite the many inconsistencies they had pointed out.

Thus it was that Harry made no objection when Snape volunteered him to duel against Malfoy. Instead, a feral grin spread across the face of the Boy-Who-Lived. This was going to be fun.

Lockhart counted to three for them to start, but Malfoy released his spell on two. With a large noise a great black snake shot out of his wand and started to crawl towards Harry, hissing the whole way. (Interestingly enough, he was hissing a rather strange rendition of "For He's A Jolly Good Fellow".) Harry slowly lowered his wand as he eyed the snake. He knew he could keep it from hurting him, but he didn't want to publicize the fact that he spoke Parseltongue. He could still remember the explanation Sirius had given when Harry had discovered the talent at the age of eight. Most people believed the ability to be inherently dark. Once more raising his wand, Harry cast a silencing charm around himself and the snake. That should keep away curious ears. And just for good measure he cast a neat little charm to create copious amounts of blue smoke.

"Hello," he hissed. The snake stopped abruptly.

"What issss it you wantssss?"

"I'm going to release the smoke and I want you to go after Malfoy. But don't talk to me again, please. I don't want anyone to know I can talk to snakes."

"Very well. I can helpssss you."

Harry nodded before lifting both his charms. The conversation had taken less than a minute and it seemed that most of the school thought he had just been trying to confuse the snake. Only Hermione was looking at him oddly. Harry smirked at Malfoy as the snake slowly retraced its path back towards the blond boy, who was trying valiantly to hide his fear. Using the snake's distraction, Harry once more raised his wand.

"Expelliarmus!"

This was his specialty, and thus it was no surprise when Malfoy flew backwards, his wand arching towards Harry who caught it easily. All would have ended well if Lockhart hadn't tried to banish the snake. He only managed to enlarge it to three times its size and set it upon a group of terrified fourth years. It was only Harry's whispered "Stop!" that kept the snake from attacking them. Luckily, everyone was screaming so much Harry didn't think anyone had heard him hiss at the snake. Though he had doubts based on the way Snape was eyeing him.

It was perhaps the dueling club fiasco that was the cause behind Professor Lockhart's appearance the next morning. The usually impeccably dressed Professor arrived in the Great Hall, shortly before the end of breakfast, with his hair hanging limp around his face. It was the most shocking shade of orange, and clashed horribly with his purple robes. He was heard to complain throughout the day that no matter how many times he tried his curlers would simply not work.

Harry spent most of the day breaking out into fits of laughter, and Ginny would not stop giggling, despite Hermione shooting them both glares throughout the day.

* * *

Christmas was soon upon them, and the five friends were talking excitedly as they boarded the Hogwarts Express for the journey back to London. None of them noticed the small figure hidden behind a large bush.

But Harry quite easily saw the large tree branches that came suddenly hurtling his way.

It was only his recent training that enabled him to roll out of the way quickly enough not to get hurt. When he raised his head from the ground it was to see the branches once more coming at his head. Harry only had time to hear Ginny's shocked scream before he once again was forced to roll out of the way. But Ginny's yell drew the attention of her twin brothers, who had been walking shortly ahead of the five friends. The two Gryffindor beaters quickly subdued the branches that were trying to demolish Harry. But they were forced to incinerate them, as the stubborn wood did not seem to want to give up.

Harry shrugged the whole incident off as one of those things that sometimes happened around Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. He never saw the small house elf who was now repeatedly bashing his head into the ground only a short distance away.

* * *

It was early February, and Ginny Weasley was very conflicted. She didn't know if she wanted to get Harry something for Valentine's Day. Well, that wasn't quite right. She very much wanted to. She just couldn't decide if she should or not. And she didn't know how he would react to a gift from her. There was no doubt that they were the best of friends, but Ginny couldn't tell if Harry thought of her as anything more than a friend. Perhaps he was too young for that idea to have occurred to him. Boys were notoriously stupid about such things.

But all of this was not helping her to come to a decision. She really needed someone to talk to. Her first confidant was always Harry. Even though she was now here at Hogwarts with him, they still spent a rather large portion of their class time writing furiously to each other on their parchments. But she couldn't very well ask Harry for advice about Harry. Ron was out for the same reason. He would be livid about the idea of his sister and Harry together like _that_. Ginny had briefly thought about talking to Neville, but the boy was so shy sometimes that Ginny didn't think she could ever get a straight opinion out of him. That only left Hermione. And Ginny did not feel comfortable talking to the older girl about her romantic problems. Hermione did not understand anything she could not get out of a book.

This left Ginny with no one to talk to while she tried to make up her mind. In frustration, she pulled out the battered diary her mother had gotten her over the summer. She needed a place to put her thoughts down.

_Dear Diary,_

Ginny paused while she tried to gather her thoughts together. But when she glanced back down at the book in her hands, the writing on the page had changed.

_Hello! My name is Tom. Who are you?_

Shocked, Ginny looked at the words. Was her diary really talking to her? That seemed so bizarre to her. The only thing that could compare was her and Harry's parchments, but they had had to charm those themselves. The charm only worked for you if you cast it on your own. How could this diary be writing to her without her doing anything? It made Ginny nervous. She wasn't used to the idea of talking to anyone but Harry this way.

Ginny put the pen down. She didn't want to write to this diary when she didn't know who was talking back. She would ask Harry about it tomorrow. Maybe he knew a way to make that charm work for anyone.

* * *

A/N: I know, it has been a couple weeks. But I had huge ideas in my head for one of my original stories, and so this took a back seat for awhile. The next chapter should be much quicker as I already have most of it mapped out in my head. I hope you enjoy. And, as always, I look forward to hearing your comments.


	12. Dragon Fire

Harry knew the instant that he descended the staircase the next morning that something was wrong with Ginny. She was sitting nervously on a couch in front of the fire, wringing her hands repeatedly, and Harry thought he could detect black circles under her eyes. It did not look like she had slept much.

"Ginny! What's wrong?"

Ginny didn't answer him at first. He sat down beside her and watched her nervous eyes darting around the room. It wasn't until he gently laid a hand over her nervous ones that she looked up into his eyes.

"Something happened last night, Harry. Do you remember me telling you about the diary that I thought Mum had bought me from Diagon Alley?" Harry nodded his consent. He remembered. "Well I haven't written in it before. It was having so much more fun writing to you, when there is someone to write me back." Ginny looked nervous about admitting this to him.

"Don't worry, Gin. I like writing to you, too." She smiled gratefully at him before continuing.

"Well, I wrote it in it because I was wanting a place to put my thoughts about something, and I didn't feel comfortable talking to you about it."

"Gin…" he interrupted, "you can talk to me about anything." Ginny blushed spectacularly.

"Not this." He looked at her curiously, but did not press the subject, so she went on. "Anyways, I was writing in it when… it started writing back."

"What!"

"It said its name was Tom Riddle."

Harry's face went white. He knew that name. That bloody bastard had tried to hurt Ginny. _His_ Ginny. He did not pause to dissect the sudden possessiveness he felt over his best friend, but then he had been steadfastly ignoring many feelings he felt about the pretty redhead by his side. None of these things were important right now. What was important was that Voldemort had tried to hurt Ginny, and he was going to stop it. Voldemort would never touch her again. Harry looked down, somewhat shocked to discover that he was now standing, to see Ginny looking up into his face, a confused expression on her face. She looked startled to see that much anger on his face.

"I didn't mean to upset you, Harry. I'm sorry I didn't write to you." Harry drew in a ragged breath and tried to calm his temper for the moment.

"I'm not mad at you, Gin. I'm just angry about Tom trying to hurt you."

"Do you know who Tom is, Harry?"

"Yes, I do. But we don't have time to talk. Do you still have the diary?" She nodded. "Can you go get it? We need to go see Dumbledore."

"Why?"

"Please, Ginny?"

She looked at him curiously for another second, then took off up the stairs to her dorm, leaving Harry to pace in front of the fire. She wasn't even down the staircase all the way before Harry had rushed over and grabbed her hand. And then he was dragging her hurriedly through the corridors. Ginny followed him, occasionally having to run a few steps to keep up. She had never seen Harry like this. I would have scared her if he hadn't been holding her hand. For though his gaze was practically murderous, quite a feat for a twelve year old boy, his hold of her hand was very gentle.

Harry stopped abruptly in front of a large griffin statue. He hissed "everlasting gobstoppers" at the statue—something Ginny had never heard of—and then continued to pull her up a staircase. The door at the top burst open before they even reached and Harry pulled her straight through without pausing. Ginny's eyes widened at the office. There were fascinating things everywhere, not the least of which was a large red and gold bird in the corner. She had never seen anything so beautiful. When they entered the office the bird looked up and let out a soft trill, it made her feel a little better instantly.

"Harry, Ginny, what is wrong?" Dumbledore was already standing and looking at them carefully. His wand was in his hand.

"Ginny found a diary in her school things. She wrote in it today and it wrote back." Ginny wondered if she was imagining the hardness that suddenly appeared in Dumbledore's eyes. "Claiming to be Tom Riddle." There was no way she was imagining the look in his eyes now. Dumbledore was furious.

"Is this the diary?"

"Yes, sir." She answered timidly. She wasn't used to speaking directly to the headmaster. "I stopped writing in it as soon as it started writing back last night. It made me nervous. But…"

"Yes, Ginny?"

"I had to lock it in my trunk. It was almost like I _wanted_ to write in it, even though I knew I shouldn't."

Harry looked at her quickly, she had not told him that before. She could see his eyes swirling with anger. They no longer looked like sparkling emeralds. There were two hard pieces of jade staring daggers at the book in her hand.

"Even now… I know I _shouldn't_ write in it, but I want to."

"You have done a great thing, Ginny, bringing this to Harry and me. I will need to see how it works, though, to understand it completely. Are you brave enough to write in it once more, if Harry and I are here?"

"NO! Uncle Albus, she can't!"

"I assure you, Harry, that I will let no harm come to Miss Weasley."

"Why can't I write in it, or you?"

"Because it appears that the diary has already made a connection with Miss Weasley. We do not want to alarm it by switching users. It will only be for a minute or two, and then we will destroy it."

"But… you _know_ who Tom Riddle is!"

"Yes, I do. Though I am curious as to how you do. But this is not the time for that discussion. It is important that we learn exactly what kind of magic resides in the diary so that we can understand what needs to be done. There might be more at work here than it seems."

Harry still looked murderous, but he made no further protest. Ginny was very confused. She had no idea why this Tom person scared everyone so much. But he must be really evil if Harry was so scared to let her write to him again. But Dumbledore said it would help. She was brave enough to help!

"I'll do it."

"A true Gryffindor. You do not have to write very much, just enough to get him to respond."

Ginny slowly opened the diary in her lap. Her hand was shaking as she took the quill that Dumbledore offered her. She was immensely grateful when Harry came and stood behind her, placing his hand on her shoulder. Though she was not entirely sure he did it just for her comfort. He had his wand pointed at the book in her hand, and he was gripping it so hard his knuckles were white.

_Hello again Tom._

_Hello! Where did you go?_

_I'm sorry. My roommates called me away. _

_They did…_

The writing paused for a moment.

_Are you telling the truth Ginevra?_

_How did you know my name?_

Ginny stiffened, and Harry's hand gripped her shoulder harder, till his fingers were almost digging in painfully. He was reading over her shoulder.

_I know many things, Ginevra, and I can teach you things. Things that will make you powerful. Things that will make you better than all of your brothers. Let me teach you._

Ginny didn't answer the diary. She simply stared at the book in her hands, shock written on her face.

_They don't care about you, Ginevra. You are just a nuisance to them. No one cares about you but me._

"That's not true, Gin. Don't listen to him. I care about you." Harry growled behind her.

_He lies to you, Ginevra. You are nothing to him, and you never will be._

Ginny started to shake, and silent tears fell down her face. She was gripping the diary tightly in her hands.

"Ginny!" Dumbledore called. "You must fight him, Ginny! You are stronger than he is."

Ginny fought to listen to his voice, but it was so far away. She could feel Tom in her mind, fighting for control. And he was winning. It would be so much easier to let him win, but Ginny could still feel Harry's hand digging painfully into her shoulder. Tom must be wrong. Harry cared about her. Ginny fought harder.

"NO!" Harry screamed. He ripped the diary out of Ginny's hands and threw it across the room. Then he kneeled down in front of Ginny, looking up into her eyes. Only he didn't see their normal chocolate brown. They were a muddy color, as if red was mixing in with her normal brown. A wordless scream ripped through his throat. Before he knew what was happening he was across the room with his wand leveled at the small book. He did not speak, but fire burst from his wand. Brilliant red fire engulfed the small book. It curled around it, and for a few seconds it seemed that the book could not be harmed, then it was gone in a ball of flames.

Harry's eyes were still sparkling with rage as he whipped around and ran back towards Ginny. But her eyes were once more her own. With a strangled cry he pulled her out of her chair and embraced her tightly to him. The two children stood there crying, holding on to each other for dear life. Neither noticed as Dumbledore walked to the fire, or when Sirius emerged from the emerald flames. Neither looked up when Mr. Weasley followed a few minutes later. Only Molly Weasley's distraught cry drew their attention. But they did not separate. Even when Ginny was drawn fiercely in to the protective circle of her mother's arms, Harry maintained a firm grip on her hand.

"Dumbledore," Mr. Weasley finally said, "I think you had better explain."

"Harry, Ginny, why don't you sit down." Harry looked at the chairs in the office. But none were big enough for both of them. He did not want to let go of Ginny's hand. Dumbledore must have understood, for with a wave of his wand he conjured an oversized armchair. Harry gratefully pulled Ginny to it.

"This morning Harry and Ginny came to me to discuss something. Ginny had found a diary among her school books and they were concerned about it."

"A diary? I didn't buy her a diary."

"Yes Molly, I assumed as much. This was a rather unusual diary. It was rather old, and when young Ginevra wrote in it…" Dumbledore cut off. Ginny was once more in hysterics.

"Gin! What's wrong?" Harry asked, his arms once more wrapping tightly around her. He missed the look exchanged between the Weasleys.

"That's what _he _called me. I don't want anyone to ever call me that again!"

"I am sorry, Miss Weasley, I will not address you like that again," Dumbledore said at once, he returned his attention to the three adults. "When Ginny wrote in the diary last night, it wrote back. It claimed to be the memory of a boy that went to school here fifty years ago."

"Who, Albus?" Mr. Weasley asked, a hint of fear in his voice.

"Tom Marvolo Riddle."

Ginny visibly cringed at the name, and Sirius let out a shocked yell, jumping to his feet with his wand at the ready.

"Albus, who is Tom Riddle." Mrs. Weasley asked, she was shocked by the reaction this name had caused. Dumbledore's eyes had lost all of their twinkle, Sirius was looking murderous and Harry scarcely less so, and Ginny was cowering in fear, shrinking into Harry's hold.

"Tom Riddle is the birth name of the man who later came to be known as Lord Voldemort."

"No!" Ginny's shocked yell drew their eyes. "That was V…V…Voldemort?"

"Yes, Ginny. Harry recognized the name instantly." Dumbledore glanced at Sirius' slightly guilty expression. "I'm guessing he must have overheard something this summer. He very wisely brought Ginny and the diary here. Instead of destroying it immediately, I asked Ginny to do a very brave thing, I asked her to write in it once more."

"Albus!" Mrs. Weasley was shocked. "How could you? She's only a child!"

"Because, Molly, I needed to know what was happening. I needed to determine if it was a mere enchantment placed on the diary, or if it was something more… sinister."

"What did you find, Albus?" Mr. Weasley asked, sounding oddly resigned.

"I will have to check a few things, but I believe I know understand how Lord Voldemort was able to withstand the killing curse that Harry rebounded on to him nearly twelve years ago. This information might be enough to help us defeat him when he returns." Dumbledore turned to Ginny once more. "You did a very great thing today Ginny. Your bravery will allow us to save many lives. Thank you."

Ginny smiled weakly back at him before turning and looking up at Harry. Harry was relieved to see that her eyes once more held her characteristic mischievousness and fierceness. "I told you I would help you defeat that bastard."

"Ginny!"

Ginny stared up defiantly at her mother. She had faced him, and she had the right to call him whatever she wanted. She would not let Tom Riddle win again. She and Harry had beaten him, and they would do so again.

"So what happened to the diary, Albus?" Mr. Weasley laid a gentle hand on his wife shoulder.

"Harry was not very happy about the idea of Ginny writing in the diary again today. I do believe he nearly hexed me when I suggested it."

"I thought about it." Sirius winked at him. "But I figured you could block anything I could throw at you."

"When Ginny wrote in it, the diary seemed to suspect that something was happening. It tried to attack her." Mrs. Weasley let out a startled yelp. "If I am not mistaken, it tried to take over Ginny's mind."

"Yes," her voice was quiet. "And he almost won." Harry's arms tightened painfully around her waist, but she didn't complain. His arms felt safe.

"Harry did not react well to his friend getting hurt. He ripped the diary out of her hand, and seemed to realize that something was wrong with her."

"Yes, her eyes were turning red." Harry turned to look at her. "I like your brown much better." Ginny beamed at him.

"The color of Voldemort's eyes." Dumbledore said nodding. "Enraged, young Harry completed obliterated the diary, thus freeing Ginny."

"Harry destroyed it?" Sirius sputtered. "But how?"

"If I am not mistaken, that diary was a very dark object which could only be destroyed a few ways. Basilisk venom, Fiendfyre," Dumbledore paused, "or dragon fire. It seemed to me that Harry used the last method."

"But Albus, it is impossible to conjure dragon fire!" Mrs. Weasley protested.

"Yes, Molly, it is."

* * *

The rest of the year was relatively calm. None of the boys in the castle complained when Professor Lockhart loudly quit in front of the whole school after suffering one too many pranks, though the girls were quite vocal in wishing he would stay. Gryffindor won the Quidditch championship when Harry successfully caught the snitch six and a half minutes into the final game, before either team had a chance to score. That win put Gryffindor securely in the lead for the house cup. Harry and Ron managed to pass their end of year exams despite all of Hermione's nagging.

And no one had the courage to ask why Harry Potter refused to leave Ginny Weasley's side.

A much abbreviated tale had been told to Ginny's brothers and all of their friends. They were only aware that an enchanted diary had tried to possess Ginny. Dumbledore did not want it to be common knowledge that Harry was capable of summoning dragon fire. Especially as he still did not know _how_ Harry was capable of doing so. Sirius had been strangely closed lipped about the subject, though he had hinted that he had an idea of how it had happened and that Albus shouldn't worry.

Harry seemed to think that the best way to cheer Ginny up was to never leave her side and play as many pranks as they could. Fred and George were enthusiastic participants in this latter goal. The four friends claimed soul credit for forcing their illustrious defense teacher out of the school. And they couldn't be more thrilled about it. Even Hermione conceded that they were probably better off without him.

And Harry spent the remaining months of the term coming to the horrible realization that he liked Ginny as more than just a friend, or even a little sister. But he kept this realization to himself. After all, he was only twelve. And there was no use him telling her about it when it could only lead to the collapse of their friendship, a friendship that was more important to Harry than his own life. Maybe he could convince her to like him, too, but in the meantime he would be her best friend. And he would stand between her and anyone else that wanted to hurt her.

His Ginny would be protected at any cost.

* * *

A/N: And we see the first use for Harry's animagus form, and he hasn't even completed the transformation yet. I hope the confrontation was lively enough for you. Happy reading! As for the Valentine, I think it suffices to say that Ginny was so traumatized by the event she will never send a Valentine in her life. I think it just became her least favorite holiday.

And for knowing Parseltongue. Ginny pretty much knows everything about Harry, except for something interesting feelings he is keeping from her. She knows. They had a lot of fun talking to some interesting snakes last summer. Ginny thought they were hilarious.


	13. The Boggart in the Wardrobe

It was amazing to Harry how quickly time passed when there wasn't anyone out to get him. The summer was filled with many adventures. Ginny and Ron came over many times so that Sirius could coach them through their animagus transformations. And Harry spent many happy days at the Burrow with them. Harry visited Longbottom manor for a weekend and helped Neville with his greenhouse. He and Sirius even spent an enjoyable day in London with Hermione and her parents. Before he realized what was happening it was the first week of September and he was on his way to his first Defense Against the Dark Arts Class. He still hadn't forgiven Uncle Remus for not telling him beforehand that he would be teaching this year. There werewolf had simply turned up at the start of term feast, shocking Harry and earning him a chewing out by Hermione who was sure that Harry had known in advance and just not told her. Privately, Harry thought he hadn't been told in advance so that he didn't prepare any kind of 'welcome' for Moony. Such a shame, it would have been great fun to welcome him in true Marauder fashion.

"Oh, it is so exciting to have a real Defense teacher for once," Hermione was saying. "Do you know what he'll be teaching us, Harry?"

"No, Uncle Remus has been strangely closed mouthed about the subject. Just said it should be 'interesting'. Which sounds fairly ominous coming from him. You wouldn't believe some of the things he has come up with." Indeed, it was Moony who had been the brains behind the Marauder's more elaborate pranks and shenanigans.

"Then what did you talk about last night? You were there an awfully long time." Harry and Ginny had spent the previous night in Moony's quarters, working on their animagus transformations. They were getting much better at it. Harry could change both of his arms by now and Ginny could produce a very respectable tail.

"Oh, we were just talking. Uncle Sirius was there as well. He's going to be helping Uncle Remus in his classes occasionally." Specifically, those classes that fell during the full moon.

"Wow, mate. You've got an easy O in Defense this year." Ron looked slightly jealous at this thought.

"Not likely. Uncle Remus already told me he was going to be really hard on me. He'll expect a lot more from me than anyone else." Harry didn't mention that he would also be having numerous private lessons this year. Remus would be helping him with his animagus transformation as well as teaching him dueling techniques. And Sirius was coming up often to teach him as well. The two Marauders were taking the Prophecy very seriously these days.

"That's hardly fair!" Hermione protested.

"No, but it's necessary."

"What do you mean, Harry?" Neville asked. "Necessary for what?"

"Nothing. Don't worry about it."

"You aren't going to tell us, are you?" Hermione asked.

"No, I'm not."

Ron was looking at him with an odd expression on his face. "Have you told Ginny?"

Harry was saved the trouble of answering this question by their arrival in front of the Defense room. He hurriedly sat down and made a great show of getting out his things. Ron didn't ask again.

"Good morning, class," Remus called as he entered the room. Harry smiled up at him. This was going to be fun. "If you would pack up your things and follow me, today will be a practical lesson."

Harry's smile only grew bigger as he followed Remus out of the room. Hermione was beside him, practically quivering with anticipation. The only practical lesson they had ever had in Defense was the memorable lesson last year where Lockhart had released Pixies at them. It had been an utter disaster. Remus led them to the staff room and they all filed in. They stood grouped in front of one of the wardrobes, which was shaking worryingly.

"Today, we will be facing a Boggart. Who can tell me what that is?"

Hermione's hand shot in the air and Remus smiled at her to answer. "A boggart is a shape shifter, Sir. It will take the form of whatever we fear the most."

"Very good. It is always best to tackle a boggart with some help. Why do you think that would be?"

This time it was Neville who answered. "Because there are so many of us, it won't know what form to take."

"Excellent! Yes, I once saw a boggart try to frighten two people at once. It wasn't remotely frightening. Now the way to fight a boggart is to force it to assume a shape you find amusing. This involves two parts. The first is to identify what frightens you most and decide on a way to make it amusing. I would like you all to take a minute or two to decide on this."

Harry's first thought was that his boggart would be Voldemort. A Voldemort returned to full power. But then he was reminded of something else. Something much worse. But how to make it funny? He didn't know.

"Have you all come up with a plan?" Harry hadn't, but he didn't want to ask for more time. "The second part is the actual spell. The incantation is 'Riddikulus', and the wand motion is like this." Remus demonstrated several times then had the students try. This part was easy for Harry, as were most of the defense spells. "Please get in a line, and you will all face the boggart." Harry moved to the line before he saw Remus gesturing him to the back of the room. Moony leaned down and asked quietly, "Are you going to be okay doing this, Harry?"

Harry didn't actually think he would be, but he wasn't about to tell Remus this. He needed to be strong. He had to learn to fight. And besides, Harry was sure that Remus was really asking if Lord Voldemort was about to materialize in the staff room. So Harry just nodded and went back to trying to find a way to make his worst fear humorous. It wasn't until he saw Neville step up to go first, shaking slightly in fear, that an idea came to him.

Harry watched with great interest as his classmates faced the boggart. Neville's Death Eater (Harry was quite sure he knew who it was supposed to be) had her robes turned a shocking shade of pink and her mask turned into that of a circus clown. Ron's spider caused nearly everyone in the room to scream. Those two were followed by mummies and hags and banshees, and other creatures of a less than savory nature. Harry noticed that Hermione was holding back hesitantly, entirely uncharacteristic for her. Finally only Harry and Hermione were left.

"Hermione, why don't you go next?" Remus asked. Harry was sure that Remus was purposely having him go last in case he had to step in when Harry's boggart appeared.

It took all of Harry's will power not to laugh when Professor McGonagall appeared and started to berate Hermione for failing all of her classes and calling her a failure of a witch. But he thought it was quite clever when the only change caused by Hermione's spell was that McGonagall was now berating her for failing all her lessons on being an idiot, claiming she was too smart for that career path. Harry didn't think Hermione could bring herself to do something amusing to the stern transfiguration professor. Finally, it was Harry's turn.

Everyone was confused when the boggart turned into a handsome teenage boy. Harry was privately impressed that it produced such a good image. He didn't realize he knew what the boy in front of him really looked like. But he was tensed for what he was sure was coming. The boy in front of him smiled. "Hello Harry," it hissed at him. Harry recognized the Parseltongue immediately. He thought it was only fitting that the boy spoke it.

"Hello Tom," Harry hissed back. He ignored the screams of shock. Tom smirked at him before walking to the wardrobe and leading another figure out. A figure that caused both Ron and Hermione to cry out. Ginny Weasley was standing before him, Tom's arms wrapped around her and her eyes strangely vacant.

"She's mine, now." The specter hissed.

"She'll never be yours!" He raised his wand, "Riddikulus!" he cried, once more speaking in his normal voice.

Harry smirked as the Ginny in Tom's arms began to morph into the form of Augusta Longbottom. This time it was Neville who squeaked in shock. Then Harry watched in amusement as Mrs. Longbottom began to berate the specter of Tom Riddle. The handsome boy didn't know what to do. Neville's Gran was a force to be reckoned with. As Mrs. Longbottom began to drag Tom, by the ear no less, back towards the wardrobe, Harry let out a great burst of laughter and the boggart exploded. Then Harry looked up into the shocked faces of his friends and teacher.

This was going to be hard to explain.

"Very good class, that will be all for today. Kindly summarize the chapter on boggarts and hand it in next time." The class hurried to the exit. "Harry, if you would stay for a minute?"

Harry nodded, he had been expecting this. Remus waited until all the others had left before waving his wand at the door and then turning towards Harry. "Care to explain who that was, why he had Ginny, and what he said to you?"

"That was Tom Riddle," Remus took a step back in shock. "I don't know how the boggart knew what he looked like; I've never actually seen him before."

"And Ginny?"

"He tried to take her away from me last year. That was him if he had succeeded. That's what he said to me, said she was his now."

"I see." Remus didn't comment on the possessiveness inherent in that statement. He and Sirius were aware of the way that Harry felt about Ginny. It was hard to miss when they knew Harry so well. But Remus did think Harry would take kindly to being questioned about it. "Did you think it was a good idea to publicly acknowledge that you are a Parseltongue?"

"I didn't actually know he was going to speak to me like that. But isn't it better that no one knew what he said?"

"Perhaps. But things might be difficult for you for awhile. You know what others assume about Parseltongues."

"Yes," Harry sighed. "What do I tell my friends? Ron is going to want to know why his sister is part of my boggart."

"Tell them the truth, as much as you can. They know you stopped an enchanted diary from hurting Ginny last year. Just don't tell them who Tom really is. But you might want to tell Ginny the whole thing, she'll hear about it anyways."

"Thanks Uncle Remus. I better go; Hermione is probably waiting to ambush me."

As it turns out, Hermione _was_ waiting to ambush him. He had barely stepped out of the door when he was grabbed by the arm and pulled down the corridor. It wasn't until she had pulled him through a door into an empty classroom where Ron and Neville were waiting that she let go of him.

"Harry James Potter! Explain what happened in there!"

"Calm down, Hermione. You lot know what almost happened to Ginny last term. And it wasn't as if I knew he was going to come at me in Parseltongue. I've actually been trying to keep that ability quiet, for obvious reasons."

"You knew you could speak Parseltongue?"

"Of course I knew. Sirius almost had a heart attack when he found me talking to a snake in our garden when I was six."

"Harry," Ron started, "why is your greatest fear about my sister?"

Harry closed his eyes for a moment. He had been dreading this question. He had his own idea about why losing Ginny was even worse than the thought of a Voldemort at full power, but he wasn't ready to acknowledge this, even to himself. Ginny was his best friend, and he treasured that too much to risk losing it. "Because, Ron, I don't like it when someone tries to hurt my friends. If it was you who had been attacked last year then I'm sure you would have been a part of my boggart instead." This wasn't entirely true, but Ron didn't need to know that. It was time for a subject change to get the attention off of him. "Besides, I think Hermione's boggart is much more interesting than mine."

"Harry!"

* * *

Harry had been waiting by the portrait whole for several minutes before his quarry came in from her last class. "Ginny? Can I talk to you for a minute?"

Her eyes shot up and widened when they took in his nervous expression and the weird glances the occupants of the common room were sending his way. "Sure Harry. What's up?"

"Not here. Let's go for a walk."

"Okay," she said, slightly confused. "I'll just run up and get my cloak."

Ginny shot him one last confused glance before heading up the stairs. Harry paced nervously waiting for her, trying to ignore the odd looks he was getting from the large group of students that Parvati and Lavender were whispering to. He was concentrating so hard on not looking at them he completely missed Ginny coming back down the stairs.

Ginny was concerned. Something was wrong with Harry, and based on the odd looks that she had got from the girls she passed on the stairs she was willing to bet it had something to do with her. She softly touched his arm to get his attention. "I'm ready, Harry. Let's go."

Harry didn't speak as they headed through the castle, nor even when they exited onto the grounds. He waited until they were part way around the lake before stopping and turning to her.

"I'm sorry, Ginny."

"Whatever for?"

"Everyone's staring at you, and it's my fault."

"I don't mind people staring at me. They did it all last year, too."

"They did?" This was news to Harry. "How come I didn't know this?"

"Because they would never do it when you were around. Seems being the best friend of the famous Boy Who Lived makes me interesting to most people. Just shows how boring their own lives must be."

Harry groaned and sank down to the ground, his head in his hands. That just made it worse.

Ginny wouldn't stand for him feeling guilty about something so silly. She plopped herself down next to him, calmly reached over, and smacked Harry upside the head.

"Hey! What was that for?" He was glaring at her, rubbing the back of his head.

"You're being silly. I don't care what those people think and neither should you. Now are you going to tell me what happened or do I have to hit you again?"

Harry shook his head in bewilderment. "Has anyone ever told you that you are one crazy witch?"

"Yes. Now stop stalling."

"Fine. We faced a boggart in Defense today." At Ginny's confused look he explained further. "A boggart is a shape shifter. It takes the form of whatever you fear most."

"Oh! Did yours become Voldemort?" Harry was exceptionally proud to hear her say the name without a trace of fear or stumbling.

"Not quite. Moony actually asked me about it before to make sure it wouldn't. I imagine Lord Voldemort appearing in the staff room would cause quite a stir."

"Probably," she said, giggling. "So what _did _it become?"

"Tom Riddle."

"Oh!" Ginny's eyes went wide and her hand clenched tightly around his. Harry hadn't realized she was even holding it.

"That's not all. He spoke to me, then produced someone else. You."

"Me?"

"Yes. Only you were completely under his control." Harry shuddered at the memory before continuing. "He had his arms all wrapped around you and your eyes—they were lifeless and vacant. It was horrible. Then he told me that you were his." Ginny tensed at that. "There's more. When he spoke to me, he spoke in Parseltongue."

"You spoke Parseltongue?"

"Yes. And everyone heard. But at least they couldn't understand what Tom was saying."

"Yes, that's probably a good thing. What did you tell everyone? I imagine Hermione has already grilled you about this."

"Yeah, she has. I told her the truth, mostly. I didn't tell her who Tom is, or what he said."

Ginny sat still for several minutes before talking again. "Harry? Why was that your greatest fear?" Harry tensed and tried to pull his hand free of hers, but she wouldn't relinquish her hold.

"I can't stand the idea of him hurting you. And I worry all the time that he is going to find some way of him doing so again."

"Oh, Harry! I'm fine! And he's not going to hurt me again."

"But Gin! You know he's coming back. He could hurt you, and it would be my fault."

"It would not be your fault, no matter what happens. And even if he comes after me again," she smiled up at him, "I know that my fire-breathing dragon will always save me."

"Of course I will." It might be oddly satisfying to roast Voldemort alive. He would bring it up with Sirius.

"See? Everything will be just fine. Now quit wallowing. Let's practice our transformations for a bit before we head inside."

"Yes, Gin."

* * *

A/N: I am so sorry this took so long. It took me a really long time to decide how I wanted to handle the whole Wormtail escaping thing, and it was holding up me starting on year three. I wasn't even planning to do the boggart part, but I was sitting class (writing instead of listening) and it just sort of came to me. Also, I wanted to make sure everyone understood that Harry has never come across a dementor, which means he isn't going to learn how to fight them this year. Also, I imagine a happy Harry who had a good childhood would have more trouble with them. He isn't quite as used to misery and fear as canon Harry.

As always, I look forward to hearing your opinions.


	14. The Animal Inside

It took two months for the school to stop talking about Harry's boggart, and it wasn't until January that he stopped hearing comments about his ability to talk to snakes. It reminded Harry uncomfortably of the beginning of his first year when everyone was enthralled by the Boy Who Lived. Harry tried to ignore it as much as he could by spending most of his free time with Remus and, when he could make it, Sirius. The two Marauders continued their lessons with Harry. Many times Ginny and Ron would accompany him and the three friends would work on their animagus forms. It was such a pursuit that had them occupied one night at the beginning of February.

"Harry, you're allowing yourself to get too frustrated. It won't work if you are upset," Sirius reminded him. Harry had been stuck at the last step of his transformation, changing his head, for several weeks now.

"I'm trying, Sirius," Harry complained. Or more precisely, Harry's head which was attached to the body of a small dragon, complained. Ron snickered at the image, and Harry glared at his friend. "It's not funny, Ron!"

"Of course it is, mate. You should see what you look like right now."

"Oh, Ron! Leave him alone. You know how hard this is." Ginny turned towards Harry. "Why don't you try it a different way, come at it from a different direction to get past your block?"

"That's not a bad idea, Ginny." Remus was sitting at his desk and grading papers while he kept watch on the proceedings. Sometimes Sirius needed as much supervision as the kids did. "Harry, I want you to change back." There was a small pop and then Harry was once more fully himself. "This time, instead of trying to change one part at a time, just imagine becoming the whole dragon at once."

"But I thought you weren't supposed to do that until you could do the whole transformation?"

"Normally, you aren't. If you try to change all at once when you haven't trained your body to do each step at a time you could exhaust all your magic. But you have learned most of the transformation already. It should be fine."

Harry nodded and took a deep breath before concentrating intently on his form. He visualized it carefully in his mind, making sure he had all the details in place, before forcing his magic to help him change. Nothing happened. Shaking his head to clear it, he tried once more. Again, nothing happened.

"You can do it, Harry. Just try again," Ginny said encouragingly.

Harry nodded and tried once more. Suddenly a small black dragon with red spikes and green eyes stood in the middle of the room.

"You did it!" Ginny exclaimed.

The dragon looked down at her, seeming shocked to see her, then it turned its head to examine itself. Sirius stepped forward and conjured a large mirror so that the dragon could inspect itself better. Ginny walked forward hesitantly and brought her hand up to gently touch him.

"Oh, Harry! You look wonderful!"

"Yeah, mate! You look right intimidating." Ron came closer to have a good look. "You're actually bigger than me now."

The dragon made an odd motion as if laughing, and two small streams of scarlet flame shot out of its nostrils, lighting a chair on fire. The dragon jumped back in shock as Remus shot out a stream of water at the chair. An instant later a shocked Harry Potter reappeared.

"Sorry, Uncle Remus. I didn't mean to set your room on fire."

"Not a problem, Harry," Remus smiled at him. "I should know better than to have a dragon in my room."

Sirius chuckled. "That was really good, Harry. Now try it again."

Harry nodded and shut his eyes. With a small pop the dragon was back. It spent more time looking around the room this time, staring intently at each of its inhabitants. Then Harry was back.

"It's really weird being a dragon."

"What do you mean, Harry?" Remus asked curiously.

"Well… things just look different as a dragon. I can't see all the colors, mostly just reds and greens."

"Maybe dragons can only see the colors they themselves are," Remus suggested.

"Maybe. And when I look at you guys it's… well, it's really weird. I can… sense things about you."

"What kinds of things?" Ron asked.

"I can see your forms. When I look at you it is like I see two things at once, you and your form. Moony looked really freaky." Harry chuckled at the look of shock on Remus' face. "I don't think dragons like werewolves much. I had to squint to even see you past the wolf."

"That's interesting," Sirius began. "Didn't realize dragons saw things differently. I guess no one realized that before."

"Well, it would be hard to. Harry is the first dragon animagus, at least in recorded history," Remus answered. "Did you have to fight an urge to hurt the werewolf, Harry?"

"At first. But then when I was able to see you behind the wolf it went away. It was like I could see that you wouldn't hurt me. I just knew that you were okay."

"Was it your mind overpowering the natural instincts?"

"No, I don't think so. The dragon recognized it, too."

"This could be quite an interesting skill, Harry. Being able to sense whether someone is good or evil could be very useful. Especially if you can bring it forward to your human form."

"Can you do that?"

"Sure," Sirius answered this time. "The longer you spend in your form and the more comfortable you become with it the more you integrate your form into your personality. James was always jealous that I had such a good sense of smell because of my form."

"Wicked! But how will I do that? It's not like I can just run around as a dragon. Someone will notice."

"Well, you should be able to go and play in the forest without anyone seeing you, and until Ron and Ginny can transform I can go with you. It's not like I can fly with you as a dog, but I can follow along."

"Or you could ride me…" as Harry offered, Sirius' eyes lit up. But before he could express this excitement Remus cut in.

"We'll need to make sure you're strong enough first. After all, you are fairly small for a dragon."

"Small!" Harry scoffed.

"For a dragon," Remus added, grinning at the boy.

"I can't believe you can already change, Harry," Ron began. "And Ginny will be done soon, by the look of things. It's going to take me forever."

"Don't feel bad, Ron," Ginny said trying to comfort her brother. "Harry and I have been working at it harder than you have."

"And I'll still help you guys until you get it."

"But that will be boring for you." Ron protested.

"No, not really," Sirius answered. "I can teach Harry some of the other things about animagi while you guys are still working on your transformations."

"Like what?"

"All the spells we've been using to help you guys out. How to help someone who gets stuck, how to force a transformation, how to recognize an animagus. Those kinds of things."

* * *

It was early Saturday morning and no one noticed a large black dog walking towards the forbidden forest. Beside the dog, Harry walked under his invisibility cloak. Harry could barely contain his excitement. He had waited all week for the opportunity to explore the forest. Transforming in Moony's room was just no fun; there was not enough room to really do much. Especially when you were a six foot long dragon. But the forest was big enough. Once they had reached a clearing in the trees that was hidden from the castle but from which you could still see the sky Sirius reverted to his usual form.

"Okay, Harry, let's see that dragon again."

Harry pulled off his cloak and stuffed it into his pocket. Then with a small pop he transformed into a dragon.

The dragon loved to be in the forest, to be free. The forest took on a much redder hue and his eyes could see many small creatures hidden in the forest who were watching him with reactions ranging from curious to full of dread. Then he looked up at the sky. Harry wasn't even aware that he was spreading his wings. With a great thrust of his hind legs he took off into the sky.

And promptly crashed into a large tree.

"Nice one, Harry," Sirius said between his nearly hysterical laughter. The dragon eyed Sirius carefully, then its tail shot out and pushed him into a large patch of mud. Sirius stopped laughing instantly. "Hey! No fair pushing your weight around. I'm trying to help you here!" The dragon just looked at him. "Fine, I'll stop laughing at you. Now try to fly again, only be careful of the trees this time."

The dragon once more spread its wings, only this time he kept an eye on the trees instead of focusing solely on the sky he wished to reach. This time he cleared the trees, but only barely. His movements were still awkward and jerky. He flew casually for several long minutes, trying to stay close to the trees so he wouldn't be seen. It didn't take long for him to learn the correct way to hold his wings and tail. Soon he was flying faster and more recklessly. After awhile he heard Sirius shouting at him to come back down. He flew down to the clearing and then realized that he didn't know how to land. He ended up hitting too hard causing his legs to buckle beneath him. He immediately took off again and came back down, trying to land better. It only took three tries for him to get it. Then with a pop Harry was back. The exhaustion hit then and he collapsed to the ground. But this didn't keep the huge smile off his face.

"That was fantastic! But man am I knackered!"

"It didn't seem to take you long to get the hang of it."

"Yeah, it isn't that different than flying with a broom. I just had to get used to moving my wings."

"How're you feeling?"

"Fine, just really tired. And my back hurts a bit. Probably from my wings."

"Come on, let's get you back up to the castle. Moony will have my hide if I let you fly anymore."

* * *

It was early March when an excited Ginny came running into common room. She had been working with Sirius in his office all afternoon on her transformation.

"Harry! I did it!"

Harry's head shot up and he looked at her for a brief instant in confusion before he understood.

"You got it? That's fantastic, Gin!"

"Come see!" Ginny grabbed his hand and physically dragged him out of the common room. She didn't slow down until they were through the door to Remus' room.

"Well, let's see it." Gin beamed at him for an instant and then with a small pop she was gone, a beautiful red and gold griffin looking at him instead. Without realizing it, Harry reached out his hand and rubbed her head. She made a contented sound and leaned into his hand. Behind them a throat cleared and Harry jumped away from her, his cheeks stained pink. Sirius was standing there, grinning at them.

"Having fun there, kiddo?" Harry flushed even more.

"Just admiring Gin's transformation."

"Sure, kid." Harry, his cheeks still red, didn't respond.

* * *

It was early on another Saturday morning and once more a large black dog was walking towards the forbidden forest. Only this time the cloak covered both Harry and Ginny. This was to be Ginny's first time trying to fly. They went to the same clearing that Harry and Sirius often flew in.

"Alright, Gin," Harry said to the magnificent griffin by his side, "try to take off. Only don't push too hard and remember to keep an eye on the trees."

"Wouldn't want you to hit them like Harry here did."

"Shut up, Padfoot."

The griffin rolled her brown eyes at them before concentrating and leaping into the air. She made it past the trees easily, something Harry was sure Sirius would never let him forget. When she cleared the trees she turned and looked back down, waiting for Harry. In no time at all a black dragon was beside her, leading her in an aerial dance so that she could learn the precise movements required to truly control her flight. Eventually, he led her back down towards the ground.

Ginny completely crashed.

Sirius was by her side instantly. "Ginny? Are you alright?"

"Hey!" Harry said indignantly. 'How come she gets concern when all you did was laugh at me?"

"Because," Sirius said in a tone that made it perfectly clear how obvious he thought it was, "she's Ginny."

The griffin rolled her eyes at the outraged look on Harry's face, then she was back in the air. Her next landing was much more graceful.

As they were walking back to the castle Ginny leaned over and whispered to Harry. "Think we can talk him into doing this every weekend?"

"Definitely!"

* * *

"Harry was sitting in the common room, swishing his wand and muttering quietly as he pointed at various people in the room. He was having trouble with the spell Remus had shown him yesterday. He thought he was doing it right, but nothing was happening. Hermione and Ron came over and sat beside him.

"What are you working on, mate?" Ron asked.

"That spell Remus showed me yesterday. I can't get it to work."

"The one that shows if someone is an animagus?" Hermione asked.

"Yeah."

"How do you know it isn't working?" She pressed.

"I've done it on everyone in the common room and nothing has happened."

"Well, maybe that's the point, Harry. Maybe nothing happens unless you are doing it on an actual animagus. Try it on Ron and I."

Harry nodded and pointed his wand at her. "Animagi Revelio," he whispered. Nothing happened. Harry looked at her with a frustrated look on his face. "See?"

"Now try Ron."

Harry did as he was told, only this time Ron was surrounded by a faint orange glow.

"Well, that's better. But it should be red."

"Yeah, mate, only I'm not really an animagus yet, am I?"

"Oh, that makes sense. But how come it wasn't showing blue on everyone else?"

"Didn't you say that it was supposed to be used on animals, Harry?" Hermione asked. He nodded. "Maybe humans that aren't animagi don't show anything. Why don't you try it on an animal?"

"Okay. Ron, can I borrow Scabbers?"

"Sure, let me go get him."

"I thought you always carried him with you?"

"Not this year. Crazy rat seems scared to death to leave the dorm."

Ron disappeared a moment later, reappearing several minutes later frantically trying to keep hold on his struggling rat. "Calm down, Scabbers! We just need to practice some spells." Surprisingly, the rat did calm down at this. Ron came and sat down next to them. "I better hold onto him, Harry. He's in a weird mood again."

"Sure." Harry pointed his wand at the rat in Ron's hands. "Animagi…" He hadn't even gotten the first word out when the rat started struggling worse than ever. Ron rolled his eyes but kept a firm hold on him. "… Revelio."

The three friends were shocked when the rat was surrounded by a red light instead of the expected blue. Hermione was the first to act. "Petrificus Totalus!" she shot at the struggling rat. "Ron! Keep a firm hold of that rat. We need to take him to Remus." Ron didn't move, he was till staring at the now still form in his hands. "Come on! Move!" Impatiently, Hermione stood up and grabbed both of the boys, steering them towards the portrait hole. It opened just as they reached it, admitting the smiling form of Ginny Weasley.

"Hey, guys! What's up?"

"Not now, Ginny." Hermione answered hurriedly. "Come on!"

Ginny followed along confusedly, her eyes moving from Hermione's frantic face to Ron's shocked one to Harry's livid one. They hadn't even rounded the corner to the corridor that led to Remus' office when Hermione began shouting.

"Professor Lupin! Hurry!"

The door to Remus' office burst open and Remus rushed out, his wand drawn.

"Hermione? What's wrong?"

"The rat, Professor! Harry was practicing the animagus detection spell and Ron's rat is an animagus!"

"Rat?" Remus asked, his voice oddly strained.

"It's him, Moony," Harry answered with a hollow voice. "I can't believe I never saw it before. He's missing a toe and everything."

Remus stared at the frozen rat, before shaking himself slightly and leading them all into his office. "Sit down. Ron, keep a firm hold of that rat." He turned to the floo and threw in a handful of powder before screaming into the emerald flames. "Sirius! We found Wormtail, alert the Ministry!" He paused before throwing in another handful. "Albus! My office. We found Peter."

Hermione and Ron were staring at Remus, completely confused. But Ginny, who knew what was happening as soon as she heard the name Wormtail, was looking at Harry with concern.

No one noticed that Hermione's curse was beginning to wear off.

A minute later the flames once more turned green, disgorging a livid Sirius Black. "The Dementors are coming for him. Where is he?"

"Will someone tell me what is going on?" Hermione demanded.

"That rat is an animagus by the name of Peter Pettigrew, Hermione," Remus answered. "He is the one who betrayed Harry's parents to Voldemort."

Ron screeched and dropped the still form he was holding, it landed on the floor, still not moving.

"Where is he, Moony?" Sirius demanded once more.

"Ron has him."

Everyone, including Ron, turned to stare at Ron's empty hands. Only Harry saw the small blur that flew through the door. He was up and running in an instant. Ginny was a half a step behind him. Sirius and Remus glanced at each other briefly before they, too, began to run.

Only Harry managed to keep up with the small rat as it made a mad escape towards the door. He followed it half way around the lake before he lost him among the trees. Harry was furious. He began frantically searching in every direction.

He never noticed the unnatural coldness get worse.

He felt like he had let his parents down, so it didn't strike him as too unusual when he began thinking about them.

_"Please! Not Harry!"_

He felt like there was no longer a reason to try. He never even looked up as he sank to the ground in despair. So he didn't see the five tall figures in black cloaks that were gliding towards him. He never realized that some of the screams he was hearing were coming from his own mouth.

* * *

Ginny was frantic. Harry had chased after Wormtail and she had lots him. The silence of the day was shattered by a piercing scream. _Harry!_ She wasn't fast enough! She had to be faster! Without even considering the consequences, Ginny transformed and flew in the direction of Harry's screams. She found him collapsed by the side of the lake, five terrible figures rapidly approaching him. The Dementors magic could not touch the griffin, but she nonetheless feared them. The griffin recognized the desecrators for what they were and everything in her knew she had to protect Harry. She landed and stood over him. She was griffin, protector of the innocent against all forms of desecration.

* * *

The Dementors' handlers were the next to arrive on the scene. The Ministry workers were confused. Their Dementors had tried to attack a boy who was now being protected by a magnificent griffin. They didn't understand what had gotten in to the Dementors. When a frantic Sirius and Remus arrived on the scene things only became worse. The two Ministry men claimed not to know where the griffin had come from, but there was no doubt that they were thankful for its presence. They did not want to imagine the problems they would have had if their Dementors had kissed Harry Potter, of all people.

The handlers apologized profusely before herding their charges off the grounds.

* * *

Albus Dumbledore had been in a tedious meeting with the Minister of Magic when Remus floo called him. Thus he didn't hear the frantic message. But Fawkes did. By the time Dumbledore arrived in a ball of flames, Harry and Ginny were already occupying side-by-side beds in the infirmary while Ron continued to apologize profusely.

* * *

Sybil Trelawney had spent the afternoon supervising a detention for two third year Hufflepuff students. The poor students had been subjected to a rather unusual punishment. Cleaning all of her tea cups hadn't been bad. But the Divination teacher had spent most of their detention saying the most ridiculous nonsense. Some crazy babble about a servant.

The two students were thrilled when they were allowed to leave.

* * *

A/N: First of all, there have been those who have questioned the relationship between Ginny and Harry. This story is largely based on their relationship. I don't spend a lot of time with Harry's other friends as their friendships are very similar to canon and I don't feel the need to explain it anymore. If you will remember, in canon Ginny liked Harry since she was 10. So there is nothing wrong with her already liking him. Also, Harry began liking Cho in the beginning of year 3. Thus I only have him starting a few months earlier than that in my story. Also, neither of them has done anything about their attraction. Right now, they are just very good friends. They don't really have a romance yet, they just have inclinations leading to that. As for why Harry became friends with her so fast. Harry was seriously friend deprived so he latched on to Ron and Ginny very quickly. He is just as good friends with Ron in my story as in canon, I just don't talk about it much. Also, JKR has mentioned that Harry and Ginny are real soul mates. So I think it is feasible to think that there is a little something there pushing them towards each other. Especially as Ginny's crush didn't immediately get in the way.

As for the Dementors. Harry has never run in to them before, so his reaction was bad. Also, he has no idea how to fight them. And he wouldn't have been nearly as motivated. (Come on, he was trying to win Quidditch!)

I hope you enjoy that. I'm trying to be better about quicker updates. This one was long, too, as I really couldn't find a good place to pause. I have most of year four mapped out, including a lovely addition based on a review by stark40763) and year five I think will be my favorite.

Enjoy!


	15. Discord

The fallout to the Wormtail Debacle, as Ginny had taken to calling it, created a large amount of tension among the group of young Gryffindors. Harry was moody over the whole thing, and he was angry not only over Wormtail's escape, but also over the fact that he had seen the bastard for nearly three years and not recognized him. He felt he had let his parents down by not catching the man who betrayed them. His reaction to the Dementors did not help matters, despite the promise he had extracted from Sirius to help him learn how to fight them. Wormtail's escape seems to have galvanized him to put even more effort into his training. He knew what was coming, and now he had another person he planned to exact his revenge on.

Hermione was angry that Harry had told Ginny about the man who had betrayed his parents and not her. The bushy-haired witch never took kindly to the idea that someone else knew something that she did not. Hermione's anger at being kept in dark caused her to pick an increasingly large amount of fights with her friends in an effort to take her anger out on them. She had even tried to use the situation to further her argument that they should not be learning to be illegal animagi. After all, she said, Wormtail used his illegal animagus abilities to escape. Whenever Hermione brought this up it would cause Ron to sulk, Harry to storm off in anger, and Neville to hastily find something else to do. Ginny's reaction was surprising; she would look at the older girl with steel in her eyes and return cool logic to Hermione's arguments. Hermione tended to shut up rather quickly whenever Ginny reminded her that it was the ability to change into an illegal animagus that had saved Harry's life, or at least his soul.

Hermione wasn't the only one who provoked Ginny's ire. The redhead was furious at her brother. She was convinced that it was entirely Ron's fault that Wormtail had escaped. It took several weeks for Harry to convince her to stop yelling at Ron for dropping the rat. This, of course, did not help Ron's temper. He was convinced that everyone blamed him for his pet's identity and escape. He would sulk whenever the subject was brought up, and as if was usually Hermione who did so, he spent most of his nonsulking time glaring at her.

Things came to an explosive head in late May.

"How is your… special project going, Ron?" Neville asked as the four third-years were walking back from Herbology. "Have you made any more progress?"

"No. I can't do more than my arms." Ron's expression fell and Neville flinched, wishing he hadn't brought the subject up at all.

"You shouldn't be doing it at all," Hermione huffed. "I should report you to Percy, he would put a stop to it."

The redhead came to an abrupt halt, his ears turning a dangerous shade of red. Harry and Neville cast wary looks at each other.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Ron spat. "It was okay for Ginny to learn because she saved Harry's life; it was okay for Harry to learn because he's _Harry_…"

"Hey!"

"But I can't learn. Why is that Hermione? Did I give up the right to be one simply because I couldn't even control my own rat?"

"Hardly." Hermione looked livid. "You never had the _right_ to learn. And you obviously aren't learning it properly if you can't even recognize one when you see it."

"Hermione, it wasn't…" Harry began, trying to stop the coming argument.

"I knew it!" Ron cut across Harry. "It's all my fault that he got away. Why don't you just admit it, Hermione!"

"Well of course you guys should have been able to recognize him. You're supposed to learn the detection spell first before you try the transformation. At least if you're doing things the _right_ way."

"It's not Ron's fault, Hermione." Harry tried once again.

"True. _You're _the one who talked him in to learning it in the first place. You have so little a regard for rules you think you can get away with everything. And you do things just because you can."

Harry jerked back as if he had been slapped, then his eyes clouded with anger.

"You have no idea what you're talking about," he snarled at her.

"Then explain it to me. Or is this just another thing that only Ginny knows?"

"You want to know why I haven't told you, why I told her instead? Because, unlike you, Ginny doesn't feel the need to criticize and analyze everything about my life. She can just be there for me as a friend instead of a know-it-all who thinks she knows best about everything."

Hermione's eyes filled with tears before she turned on her heel and ran.

* * *

It looked to be the end of Harry and Ron's friendship with Hermione. Both boys thought she had gone too far in her crusade to know and be right about everything. Surprisingly, it was Ginny who most often tried to fix the breach. She still continued to spend time with Hermione, something that Ron saw as a base betrayal. It didn't bother Harry, as long as she didn't try to make him spend time with Hermione. He recognized the fact that Ginny needed a female friend.

Of course, he was perfectly within his rights to wish that her chosen friend was someone whose company he could stand to be in.

* * *

It was a relief to Ginny when the summer started. The last few weeks had been hard on her. She hadn't wanted to end her own friendship with Hermione, but it was hard for her to maintain in the face of Harry's antagonism. Especially as she thought he was in the right in the argument. But she needed a female friend. Harry, unlike her prat of a brother, never said anything about her continued friendship with Hermione, but Ginny wasn't his oldest friend for nothing. She could see that he wasn't happy about it. At least Ginny had managed to convince Hermione that she might have been wrong in what she said.

Of course, the two girls still disagreed about one of the issues raised. Hermione was convinced that Harry had a different reason for always confiding in Ginny than he stated. But Ginny refused to think that. There was no way that Harry liked her like _that_. She had long ago convinced herself that that could never happen.

Thus it was a great relief to Ginny to face a whole summer where she wouldn't have to deal with the tension that existed between Hermione and the two boys.

Three days into the summer found Remus in her mother's kitchen.

"Molly, I promise that Sirius and I will be with them the whole time."

"But Remus, why do you have to go so far away? Why can't you just stay here?"

"Harry had never been before. We're trying to get him out of the house this summer without taking him someplace we have to constantly worry about security." Ginny was impressed that he didn't once let on that they had a very different reason for wanting to go to the mountains. Remus was a very good actor.

"But it just sounds so dangerous, Remus." She was wringing her hands in worry.

"Molly, would I ever put either Harry or Ginny in danger?"

"No, I suppose not." She glanced at Ginny's excited face. "Fine, Ginny, you can go. But please be careful."

"Yes, Mum."

"Well let's be off, Ginny. I'm going to have to apparate you there. Have you ever apparated before?"

"Sure. Bill and Charlie have taken me before."

"Okay, hold on tight."

Ginny grasped Remus' arms, and he twisted them into nothingness. With a small pop they reappeared in a small meadow high up in the mountains, where Sirius and Harry were waiting for them.

"Ginny!" Her breath was knocked out of her as he swung her around in a circle, laughing. "We get to really fly!"

"Hi, Harry! Excited much?"

"Oh, come on. You want to fly just as much as me."

Instead of answering him, Ginny thought of her griffin and forced it to take over. Then she pushed off into the air. A black dragon was only seconds behind her.

Harry and Ginny spent the rest of the day flying among the mountains, while Remus and Sirius relaxed in the meadow below.

"Do you think they realize how they feel about each other?" Sirius asked.

"Yes. Ginny has been in love with Harry her whole life, she just doesn't think he could ever feel the same way. And I'm pretty sure Harry has realized how he feels about her."

"How do you know so much?"

"I pay attention, Padfoot."

"Then why hasn't he done something about it yet?" Sirius asked after a pause of several minutes.

"He's scared. He doesn't want to risk their friendship."

"Well, he better get a move on it, before someone else beats him to it."

"Maybe he'll get up the courage this year. You know what's going to be happening."

* * *

Harry and Sirius stepped out of the fireplace (well, Sirius stepped and Harry fell) into Dumbledore's office. They were greeted by a trill of greeting from Fawkes.

"Good day, Harry, Sirius."

"Hello Albus. Thanks again for letting us come up to do this," Sirius greeted him.

"Certainly. It is a very good idea for Harry to learn this particular spell."

Harry scowled as he followed Sirius out of the office. He didn't like being reminded about his strange susceptibility to the dementors. But that was why they were here today, so that Harry could learn to fight them. Sirius led him to the classroom that had been Remus'. All of Remus' stuff had now been removed, as Remus would not be returning to teach. He had been strangely closed mouth about _why_ he wasn't returning, only telling Harry that an ex-Auror would be teaching instead.

"Okay, Harry. Now you know what it is that a dementor does to you?"

"Yeah, they make me relive my worst memories so that they can feed off of my fear and despair."

"Right. And you know why you react so badly to them."

"Yeah," he nodded glumly, "because I can hear Voldemort murdering Mum," Sirius visibly shuddered on hearing this, "and trying to get Ginny."

"So what I am going to teach you is something called the Patronus Charm. If you can do it properly it will conjure up a Patronus to protect you from the dementors."

"What exactly is a Patronus?"

"It is a concentration of pure happiness, and because of this the dementors cannot harm it. And because it cannot feel fear it can protect you from their influence." Sirius pulled out his wand. "Now each person's Patronus takes a unique shape, something special to them. "_Expecto Patronum._" Harry watched as a silver shape emerged out of Sirius' wand and formed into a perfect copy of his animagus form.

"Always knew you liked yourself too much, Padfoot."

"Yeah, stop the teasing. Your dad's was his form as well. It is an animal that I clearly have a very personal relationship with. I wouldn't be surprised if yours was a dragon, or maybe even a stag. Now, I want you to try. You have to concentrate on a happy memory when you say the incantation."

Harry nodded and screwed up his face in concentration. He thought about the day he helped Gryffindor win the Quidditch cup this last year. "_Expecto Patronum!_" A small wisp of silver shot out of his wand, startling him, "I did it!"

"Yeah, kid, you did. Now try again. You have to be able to get a fully corporeal Patronus before Remus will let you go up against a boggart dementor."

Harry nodded and closed his eyes once more. He could vividly remember the steep dive to catch the snitch and the team flying to join him in a giant aerial hug. He could see Oliver practically crying with joy as McGonagall handed him the cup. He could see Ginny running to him, her face lit with excitement, and throwing her arms around him… "_Expecto Patronum!_" Harry's eyes snapped open when Sirius let out a gasp of surprise. There in front of him, her eyes boring into his, was a silver version of Ginny's griffin form. Harry blushed in embarrassment. He didn't have to ask why Ginny was his Patronus.

"Not a bloody word, Padfoot."

* * *

Harry woke up to something wet on his face. He reached up automatically and pushed the large black dog off of him.

"Padfoot, that is just gross."

Padfoot barked once and an instant later was replaced by the grinning form of his godfather. "Wake up, sleepy head. It's your birthday!"

Harry laughed as he followed Sirius down to the kitchen. Sitting on the table was a small pile of presents. Remus was waiting for him, grinning. Harry sat down and pulled the nearest present towards him. There was a note attached to the front with his name written on it. He recognized that handwriting. Slowly, he opened the letter.

_Harry,_

_I know you probably don't want to hear from me, and really I can't blame you. I'm sorry for those things I said. I really didn't mean them. I know you have a lot of pressure on you, and I don't expect you to tell me everything. And I know that you would never abuse your fame. I mean, you hate it! Know that I will always be there for you._

_Happy Birthday!_

_Love from,_

_Hermione_

Harry stared at the letter in his hand. He was glad that Hermione admitted she was wrong, but he wasn't ready to forgive her. The implication that he broke the rules simply because he knew that he could get away with it had really hurt him. He slowly opened the package she had sent. Typical Hermione, it was a large book. But the title took him by surprise. _Integrating Your Animal and Yourself: How to Bring the Characteristics of Your Animagus Form into Your Everyday Life._ This could be very useful, despite Harry's less than kind feelings towards the person who had given it to him. He sat there, holding the book, for several minutes. Hermione had admitted that she was wrong, and that was something that she _never_ did, but Harry still couldn't banish all the hostility he felt towards her. Shaking his head to clear it he set the book aside and reached for the next present.

"YES!" He launched himself at Sirius, grinning like a fool. "We get to go to the world cup! Can Ron and Ginny come?"

"Do you honestly think I would live very long if I said otherwise?" Sirius asked.

"I'm going over to tell them!"

"Tell Ginny she can invite a friend," Sirius called out after him as he ran out the door.

* * *

"Ginny! Why did you have to invite her?" The anger was radiating off of Harry as he paced across the room. He had stormed up to her bedroom and threw open the door to yell at her when Ron had informed him that Ginny had invited Hermione as her guest for the World cup.

"You know we are still friends, Harry. I have the right to invite a friend."

"But did it have to be _her_?"

"A girl needs friends."

"But you have me."

"But there are some things I can't talk to you about."

Harry stopped in his relentless pacing of the room and looked at her, his face falling. "Aren't I good enough, Ginny?" He didn't give her a chance to answer. He was out her door and running down the stairs before she snapped out of her dazed shock. Harry didn't stop running until he was deep in the forest. It was there that Padfoot found him several hours later and lay down beside him for several minutes before changing back."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"Why do things have to change so much, Sirius?"

"I think you would be pretty bored with life if they didn't. Any particular change that is upsetting you?"

"It's Ginny… I…"

"Ah. Figured it out did you?"

Harry opened his mouth to argue, but Sirius just looked at him and he nodded instead.

"What's wrong with it?"

"I don't want to lose my best friend."

"Who said you would lose your friend? It could just make things better."

"No, it's just going to ruin everything. She's never going to feel that way about me."

"You don't know that. And you can't know that until you tell her." Harry gave him an incredulous look.

"I'm not going to tell _her_ about this."

"Your loss, kid. Your loss."

* * *

Harry and Ginny never brought up that conversation. The very next day things were back to a semblance of normality. Harry never brought up again Ginny's choice of friends, but his behavior towards her took on a measure of formality that it had never had before. Most confusing, to Ginny at least, were the odd looks that Sirius would sometimes give Harry to which Harry would always answer with a, "shut up, Sirius." When she asked Harry about it, he always brushed it off saying it wasn't important.

She really didn't believe him.

* * *

Sirius woke up instantly when Harry's scream tore into the night. He cursed loudly when the blankets tangled in his feet, causing him to fall harshly to the ground. His cursing only got worse as he stubbed his toe on the door when he tried to make his way down the hall. His wand tip flared as he practically fell into Harry's room. The boy was curled on the bed, his hands pressed tightly into his forehead as he screamed.

"Harry! What's wrong?"

Sirius grabbed his hands and pulled them away from the boy's face. Harry's eyes were wild and unseeing, his usual emeralds now more of a harsh jade with no depth.

"Harry!"

It took several minutes for Harry's eyes to focus on Sirius' frantic face above him. Then he stuttered out, "S…S…Sirius! I saw… V…V…Voldemort!"

Sirius' hands on his arms instantly tightened. "Tell me what you saw."

"I can't remember. I think there was an… old man? And then Voldemort said something about plotting to…"

"What was he talking about, Harry?"

Harry looked up at him, fear in his eyes. "He was plotting to kill me!"

"How, Harry? What did you hear?"

"He said something about his most loyal servant returning to him… but I can't remember more than that."

"It will be okay kid. You're too well protected. Now, let's get Hedwig and send a note to Albus. He's going to want to know about this."

* * *

The dream left Harry strangely unsettled for the next few days. Sirius, in an effort to pull him out of his thoughts, decided that the best way to spend the time before the Cup was to prank his godson every day. The morning of the World Cup Harry woke up in his bed and groggily made his way into the loo. It took him several minutes to look up into the mirror and notice that he had words written across his forehead.

"Sirius! Get rid of it right now!"

"Problem there, kid?"

"Yes! Get these stupid words off of my head!"

"No can do. They'll last a full day."

Harry stared at him. There was no way he could show up at the World Cup looking like this. Ginny would be there and she would want to know why his forehead now proclaimed _Property of Ginevra Weasley_ on it.

"Sirius! She can't see this, it would ruin everything!"

"I think it might just give you the push you need." Sirius was fighting to keep a smirk off his face.

It was thus that Remus found them ten minutes later when he apparated in. Boy and man arguing about removing the words before Ginny could see them. With a laugh, Remus took pity on Harry and with a wave of his wand he vanished the words.

"Really, Sirius. You can't embarrass him too much if you want him to ever do anything about his feelings."

"But it is so much _fun_, Moony!"

Harry didn't talk to Sirius for the rest of the day. This caused him a bit of a problem in that he also wasn't talking to Ginny. His lingering embarrassment from that morning combined with the girl she was sitting next to causing him to stay far away from her. He was thankful that the match was so entertaining as it gave him something else to focus on besides all the people he wasn't talking to.

* * *

Harry woke with a start to see Sirius leaning over him, shaking him awake.

"You need to get up, kid. We have to get out of here."

"What's wrong?" he asked groggily.

"Someone thinks it is a good idea to torture Muggles for fun. Things are getting a little crazy around here and I don't want you caught up in it."

"Did you get the Weasleys?"

"Remus is right now."

Harry nodded. Stowing his wand carefully he threw on his cloak and rushed out to find several groggy redheads waiting for him. He quickly grabbed Ginny's hand and began tugging her into the woods after Remus. He didn't even notice when they lost the others.

The three of them spent several tense minutes in the trees before the forest around them erupted into screams. Looking up Harry saw the reason for this. The giant Dark Mark floated high above them for the first time in nearly thirteen years. Harry's blood ran cold.

* * *

The rest of the summer past in a tense blur for Harry. The combination of his dream and the happenings at the World Cup was too big of a coincidence to ignore. Something was happening and it had him worried. To make matters worse, Ron was once more speaking with Hermione.

_"What do you mean you've forgiven her?"_

_"Mate, she really didn't mean to say those things."_

_"Then she should have said them in the first place!"_

_"That's true. But she did apologize to me."_

_"Yeah, only after you risked your neck to stand up for her to Crouch and all those Ministry officials."_

_"Well it's not like Hermione of all people could have cast the Dark Mark. She's Muggleborn. And they were being horrible to her. Someone had to say something. And afterwards she just broke down about how sorry she was and how she didn't mean any of it. And I believe her."_

_"Well you'll forgive me if I don't."_

Harry still couldn't believe that Ron had forgiven Hermione that easily. But then again, the things she had accused Harry of were much worse than what she had said to Ron. This turn of events just made things more awkward for Harry when September first came around. He was the only one in the compartment that was no longer speaking to Hermione, and so he spent the first hour not talking to anyone and with his nose buried in a book.

This is perhaps why he wasn't the first to react when they received their usual visit from Malfoy.

"Well, if it isn't Potter and his tag-alongs. What's the matter, Potty? Not talking to your little friends anymore? Did they finally realize what a fake you are?"

A loud smack reverberated through the compartment and Harry looked up in shock to find Hermione standing in front of the Slytherin, her hand raised, and a large red handprint on the boy's cheek.

"Shut up, Malfoy! Just because you have always rested on your dad's accomplishments doesn't mean Harry has done the same. He has earned every privilege he has, which is a whole lot more than I can say for you."

Harry stared at her. He couldn't believe she had defended him like that. Especially as Malfoy seemed to be saying the same thing she had accused him of months ago. It made no sense to him. Lost in his thoughts, he didn't notice when Ginny cursed Malfoy and Neville shoved him out into the hall. He was looking at Hermione in shock when she slowly turned to him, her eyes downcast.

"I'm sorry I said those things about you, Harry. I don't really believe them. I was just so frustrated that there were things I didn't know and couldn't control. I'm sorry."

Harry was too shocked to say anything, but he nodded stiffly at her. Maybe she was telling the truth after all.

Hoping the break the tension, Neville challenged everyone to a game of Exploding Snap. They played until the train arrived in Hogsmeade.

* * *

A/N: So sorry for the long wait! I actually started this chapter really early and had a basic idea of where I wanted it to go. But boy did it cause me problems. I finally realized that I was simply wanting too much to happen in one chapter. So I decided to cut it here instead and stop trying to fit too much in where it didn't want to go. I hope you enjoy!

Oh, and while trying, and failing, to make headway on this chapter I had an idea for a new story. So look for that coming sometime soon.


	16. Depression and its Aftermath

Despite a slight cooling off of the tension between Harry and Hermione, Harry was grateful to get off the train and board the carriages for school. He was also still upset about Ginny. He knew that she needed more friends than just him, but it hurt him to see her be friendly with those he was mad at, and it hurt him to realize that there were parts of her life she seemed to refuse to share with him.

It escaped his notice that he might be doing the same thing with her.

All of these thoughts made it so that he breathed a sigh of relief to be going to the feast where he would be surrounded by people and where he could wallow in his misery. He barely listened as the Headmaster gave his usual announcements, and he only picked at his food. It wasn't until after the feast when Harry's attention was caught by something Dumbledore was saying.

"…and so it is that I must tell you that the Interhouse Quidditch Cup will be cancelled this year."

Harry stared at the man in shock. Cancelling Quidditch! How could he do that?

"This is due to an event that will be starting next month and taking up much of the teachers' time throughout the year. It is my pleasure to announce that this year at Hogwarts we will be hosting the…"

Dumbledore cut off as the door to the Great Hall banged open. Harry looked up in shock to see a figure in a dark travelling cloak that was limping up to the front. When the man dropped his hood to reveal a heavily scared face, Harry's vision exploded.

He had, grudgingly, been reading the book that Hermione had sent him for his birthday, and he had been able to more fully integrate his dragon sight. He now knew how to use it and what it meant. So when his vision exploded he knew instantly what it must mean. He didn't know who the man was (as he had stopped listening to Dumbledore in his shock) but he knew something was wrong. He needed to let Uncle Albus know immediately.

Harry was distracted for the rest of the feast, most of his attention spent on the man now sitting at the staff table, and when they were dismissed back to their dorms, Harry instead made his way to the Headmaster's office.

"Harry! To what do I owe this unexpected surprise?"

"Uncle Albus, something is wrong with the new Defense professor."

Albus looked at him curiously. "Professor Moody?"

Harry nodded. "My dragon sight recognizes that he is evil. Pure evil."

Albus stared at his young charge in shock. Alastor Moody was one of the staunchest fighters for the light. There was no way that he could be evil. "Are you sure, Harry?"

"Yes, sir."

Albus stared at him in thought for several minutes before nodding. "Very well. I will investigate immediately." He stood up and drew his wand. "If you will return to your dorm, I will go speak to Professor Moody."

Harry nodded and followed the Headmaster down the stairs before heading up on his own to Gryffindor tower. When he got to the tower, he was slightly disappointed to see the Common Room was empty and none of his friends had waited for him. Dejectedly, Harry made his way up to his room and collapsed in his bed.

* * *

Ginny Weasley watched as Harry dashed out of the Great Hall without even telling her goodbye or explaining what he was up to. He had been acting strangely closed off for the last several weeks, and she was beginning to wonder if he was pulling away from their friendship. He had gotten so angry at her for talking to Hermione, almost as if he couldn't understand why she would want any friends besides him. The possessiveness he had displayed upset Ginny. He seemed to want all of her without giving her all of himself.

Inexplicably angry, Ginny stomped up the stairs and went up to her dorm. She would show him that he couldn't just expect her to give everything up for him.

* * *

The next morning, Harry woke up early, having not slept well, and headed down to the Great Hall before anyone else was awake. He sat down at the end of the Gryffindor table and put his head down on the table, not looking up until he heard Ginny beside him.

"Good morning, Harry!"

He looked up at her and forced a smile. She looked at him curiously, but he looked away before she could ask him what was wrong.

"Where were you last night, mate?" Ron asked as he started shoveling food on his plate.

"I had to go talk to Professor Dumbledore."

They all looked up at him curiously. "What about, Harry?" Hermione asked tentatively.

"Um… I noticed something odd about the new professor."

Before they questioned him further Dumbledore entered the hall and immediately called for everyone's attention.

"Something rather unusual happened last night that I wish to inform you of. The man I introduced as Professor Moody was in fact a Polyjuiced imposter named Barty Crouch, Jr. Crouch is a convicted Death Eater that we believed had died in Azkaban some time ago. Instead, he had escaped and was here this year in an effort to capture one of our students in an attempt to resurrect Lord Voldemort." There was a collect intake of breath in the hall. Dumbledore's eyes met Harry's and Harry knew the professor was speaking about him. "He has been returned to Azkaban and the real Alastor Moody will be teaching you." Dumbledore waved at the food on the tables that had been largely ignored as he spoke. "Please, let me not interrupt your breakfast any longer."

As soon as Dumbledore sat down, Harry looked up to see all his friends looking at him intently. He gave a small shrug. "My dragon recognized something was wrong."

Ron looked at him incredulously. "But, mate, aren't you worried about the plot to resurrect You-Know-Who?"

Harry rolled his eyes at the moniker, but shook his head. His eyes met Ginny's and she smiled in encouragement. "I've always known that he would find a way to come back. I'm just glad it can be delayed again."

Hermione shook her head at him, and he thought he heard her mutter something about him being delusional. He chose not to comment.

* * *

The first month of school was rather normal for Harry, though he was still cautious around Hermione. Moody was a fantastic Defense teacher, and he caused quite a sensation when he put all of his students under the Imperius curse in class. Harry and Ginny had been the only ones to show any signs of being able to resist it: Harry had thrown it right off, and Ginny fought it for several minutes before giving in. Harry made every effort to spend as much time as possible with Ginny and was ecstatic to be able to show her around the village for her first Hogsmeade visit. As soon as the date was announced, he asked Ginny how she wanted to spend the day and they planned out which shops they wanted to see, thus it was rather a shock when the night before the trip she informed him that she would not be going with him.

"What do you mean? Don't you want to visit the village?"

She wrung her hands and refused to meet his eye. "Of course, and I am going. I just said I have other plans."

His shoulders slumped. "Oh. Who are you going with?"

"Michael Corner."

"Oh. Well, have fun."

Harry retreated up to his dorm and drew the curtains around his bed for the rest of the night, and Ginny stared after his retreating form.

Harry did not go to Hogsmeade the next day, and he spent most of the next few weeks quietly in the library. He ate most of his dinners in the kitchens, merely picking at his food. Hermione occasionally joined him and accused him of hiding. He ignored her.

On Halloween night Ginny had had enough of his sulking. She marched into the library and told him point blank that he would be attending the feast with her. Deciding it wasn't worth a fight, he followed along behind her and took his seat, picking at his food. He pretended to look interested as Dumbledore announced the Triwizard Champions, but he didn't really care. So he wasn't even paying attention when the Goblet of Fire came out with a fourth name. It wasn't until Ginny poked him harshly in the side that he looked up.

"What?"

She stared at him incredulously. "Dumbledore called your name as Champion, Harry. You have to go up there."

He stared at her in confusion. "But Cedric is Champion."

She rolled her eyes. "He called your name, too."

"But I didn't enter my name."

"I _know_ that, Harry. But you still have to go up there."

With a shrug of his shoulders, he climbed to his feet and made his way slowly to the room behind the teacher's table. The discussion that followed did nothing to improve his mood. Based on the discovery of the imposter Moody earlier in the year, there was little doubt that Harry had been entered in the tournament by a third-party who wished to use him to bring Voldemort back. Unfortunately, there was no way around his participation now. It was a magically binding contract. And while Dumbledore knew the truth of how Harry's name was entered, he knew that few others would believe him.

Harry made his way sadly up to Gryffindor tower and climbed in through the portrait hole. He was met with a huge cheer, but he just rolled his eyes and made his way up to his dorm. He was in no mood to celebrate something he didn't even want.

Ron was sitting on his bed waiting for Harry.

"How did you do it, Harry?"

Harry stared at him shock. "What do you mean?"

"How did you enter your name?"

"I didn't."

Ron didn't appear to believe him. "Because, you know, you could have shared with the rest of us. Let someone else have a shot as well."

"I didn't enter my name, Ron."

"Whatever."

Ron pulled his curtains closed and left Harry standing there, staring at them.

* * *

Things did not get better for Harry. Most of the students seemed to believe he entered his own name, and that he was just trying to get a bit more attention. Ron refused to speak with him, and things were still awkward with Hermione. And Ginny, she was spending a great deal of time with Michael Corner these days, and Harry let her. The only people he really talked to any more where Sirius and Remus. They were devoting a great deal of time in an effort to catch Pettigrew, but they still came up to the castle to see him quite regularly. Sirius was worried about the Tournament, and insisted that he be able to help Harry train. Harry worked hard with them, trying not to let on how messed up he thought his life was at the moment. He didn't want pity, and he didn't want Sirius to say he told him so about Ginny. He should have told her how he felt ages ago, because now she was with someone else and he had lost her.

Harry spent all his time that he wasn't training holed up in a corner of the library, ignoring most everyone. He didn't emerge until the day of the first task.

They hadn't told him what it was to be, said it was to test his courage in the face of the unknown. Harry had shrugged at this. So when he got to the tent where the other champions were and was presented with a small model of the dragon he was to face later, he was mildly surprised. But he wasn't concerned.

He didn't really care about winning the tournament, so if he didn't get the golden egg, it didn't matter to him.

After sitting and listening to the other champions go through the task, he was called out to face the Horntail. She was sitting across the field, protecting her small clutch of eggs. Harry knew it would probably have been easier if he could have transformed into his animagus form, but he didn't want anyone to find out about it. Instead, he summoned his broom and flew up to her, trusting that she would be able to recognize the dragon inside of him.

The next ten minutes sent all of the audience into quiet wonder as they watched Harry Potter and the very large, very scary, Horntail fly together in an intricate aerial dance. The two fliers than landed, and Harry walked calmly to the nest, removed the foreign egg, and walked away without a scratch.

The spectators were dead silent at the display.

Harry didn't even hang around to see his scores. He didn't care about them. Instead, he headed back to the tent to hear the next set of instructions. Afterwards, he walked out, his broom over his shoulder, to find his four friends waiting for him. Hermione was beaming at him, and the moment he emerged, Ginny shrieked and launched herself at him. She hugged him tightly around his neck.

"Harry! I'm so glad you're all right. That was so scary!"

He wrapped his arms tightly around her waist and held her. "I'm fine, Ginny. You know that no dragon will hurt me."

She nodded as she stepped back from him, tears in her eyes, and Harry looked down at her, once more hoping that there was a chance he could get her back.

"Um… Harry?" Harry looked up at Ron. "I just wanted to say that I'm sorry, and that I know you wouldn't have put your own name in the Goblet."

Harry looked at him for several long minutes before giving a clipped nod. He walked back to the castle with his three best friends and the girl he was in love with at his side, and thought that maybe things would get better.

* * *

It was only a few days later that the Yule Ball was announced and Harry was informed that he needed to have a partner. He nodded to Professor McGonagall and immediately made his way in search of Ginny, hoping that if he asked her first maybe she would say yes. He found her sitting in the Gryffindor Common Room reading a book.

"Ginny?" She looked up and smiled at him. "Can I talk to you for a minute?"

She nodded and followed him as he let her down the corridor to an empty room. Once there, he began pacing nervously in front of her. Finally, he came to a stop and looked at the floor by her feet.

"Would you be my date to the Ball?"

She drew in a sharp breath. "Harry, you know I'm dating Michael. I'm going with him."

His shoulders sagged. "Oh. I had hoped…" He didn't finish his thought.

"You thought what, that if you asked I would ditch my boyfriend so that you wouldn't have to take a real date to the ball?" She was on her feet, her fist clenched in anger.

"What! No, that's not…"

"I can't be your fall back girl anymore, Harry. I'm with Michael and you need to find a girl you really want to take to the ball."

"But, Ginny…"

"No, Harry." She stormed past him and out of the room.

Harry stared at her as she left, his life once more seeming hopeless. He didn't come back to the Common Room that night.

* * *

Ginny studiously avoided Harry for the next few weeks, but it wasn't very hard. He was almost nowhere to be found. His grades were slipping, and he was losing weight fast. The only time he even spoke to anyone was when Sirius and Remus came to work with him on his training. It hadn't taken Remus very long to work out the egg clue, and they knew what was coming in the second task. Sirius had ordered some strange plant called Gillyweed as well as taught him the Bubblehead Charm, just in case. Harry had begged to be able to come home for Christmas break, but Sirius had refused. He reminded Harry that he was expected at the ball, and tried to extract a promise that Harry would ask someone. Harry just shrugged.

On Christmas morning, Harry woke up, took a cursory glance at his presents, and ignored them. There wasn't anything there from Ginny. He had sent her a small handspun glass rose the colour of her hair, but he had been too much of a chicken to even put his name on the tag. He knew she would be furious about the present and was half convinced that she would break it in anger if she knew it was from him. And Harry thought he probably deserved it. He had taken advantage of her always being there, expected that she always would, and never told her what she really meant to him. He didn't blame her for being angry at him. She probably assumed that he only asked her to the ball to try and keep her away from Michael, and while that was true in part, it wasn't the real reason.

Harry couldn't bear to be there and watch her dance with Michael all night long, so he had no intention of going to the ball. But he knew that if he was in the castle someone would be sent to find him. So that morning, before anyone was awake, he transformed into a dragon and took flight. He flew all morning, and eventually ended up in the same mountain area where Sirius and Remus had brought him and Ginny to practice their flying. There, he curled up on the ground and let the misery have him.

* * *

Sirius was frantic when Minerva flooed him, informing him that Harry had not shown up for the Yule Ball and that no one could find him. He knew that Harry was upset about Ginny going with someone else, but he hadn't realized it was that bad. It took him half the night to find Harry, and when he did, he couldn't convince him to turn back into human form. So instead, Padfoot curled up with him on the ground.

* * *

It took Ginny Weasley much of the ball before she noticed that Harry wasn't there. She had been confused by him for the last several months. She hadn't understood why he was so mad at her for still being friends with Hermione, and had been hurt by his behaviour. So she began spending time with Michael Corner, who flattered her with his attentions. When he had asked her to the Hogsmeade visit, she had been ecstatic, until she had told Harry. He had been moody and depressed ever since, and she thought he was upset that she had other friends besides him. To her, it seemed he wanted to monopolize all her time, and when he couldn't have that he got upset. His behaviour had made her absolutely livid, which sometimes seemed odd to her. She had never gotten angry at Harry before. And then he had asked her to the ball. She would be lying if she didn't admit that she would much rather have gone to the ball with Harry than Michael, but Michael had already asked her and she was dating him. It wouldn't have been fair for her to go with Harry instead, and she thought Harry should have realized that. So when he asked her, she could only see her friend who refused to allow her to be with anyone else, and yet would never like her himself. And so she had blown up at him.

Afterwards, she had decided that he probably hadn't deserved to get yelled at, but she was just so frustrated with him in general. She was embarrassed that he had gotten her so angry, and avoided him as much as possible. Hence why she didn't notice his absence tonight for several hours. It wasn't until a frantic Hermione came up asking if she knew where he was that Ginny looked around and recognized his absence.

"I don't know where he is, Hermione. I haven't even spoken to him much in the last few weeks."

"But you two are so close!"

"Not anymore, Hermione. He doesn't like some of my friends."

Hermione gave her a strange look. "I don't think that is it, Ginny."

The younger girl nodded her head. "Of course it is. He got mad at me that I was talking to you over the summer when you were fighting. And now he is mad at me for spending time with Michael."

Hermione raised an eyebrow. "Oh, Ginny, can't you see?"

"See what?"

"Harry was mad over the summer because he thought you accepted me, someone who he was convinced thought the worst of him. He had a hard time understanding how you, his best friend, didn't stand by him."

"But…"

"And with Michael, well, he's jealous."

Ginny scoffed. "Jealous! Maybe that I am spending my time with someone else, but not like you mean."

Hermione shook her head. "He asked you to the ball, didn't he?"

"Yes, but that was only to get me away from Michael."

"Maybe. Or maybe because he wanted to go with you." Hermione gestured around. "He didn't go with anyone else, did he? And now he is who knows where hiding instead of being here like he is supposed to be. When he couldn't go with you, he didn't want to go with anyone else."

Ginny stared at her older friend in shock, then shook her head slowly. "I think you're wrong, Hermione. Harry doesn't think of me like that, and he never will."

* * *

It was two days after Christmas before Harry Potter returned to Hogwarts. But very few people noticed. He hid from nearly everyone, and took all his meals in the kitchen instead of the Great Hall. When classes resumed, he attended them and did his homework (only because Sirius had threatened him if his grades didn't pick back up), but he never spoke to anyone. He wasn't sleeping in his dorm room, as Ron reported, and no one could ever find him outside of class.

Ginny had tried to talk to him the first day of class, waiting outside his classroom, but he had just stared at her for several long seconds before dropping his gaze. She was confused until she saw Michael coming up behind her. He slipped his arm around her waist and kissed her cheek in greeting, and by the time she looked back up Harry was gone.

Harry himself was nervous. He knew what was coming in the second task, and he knew who would be taken, and he didn't know how she would react. She was with Michael a lot these days, and he was sure the other boy wasn't going to be too happy to see his girlfriend be the thing Harry would miss the most.

* * *

It was Valentine's Day, and Ginny Weasley woke up with a smile on her face. The first thing she saw was the beautiful glass rose that sat on her bedside table. It was the prettiest present she had ever received, and she loved it. She had the best boyfriend in the world for giving her such presents. Grinning happily, she got out of bed and got dressed before hurrying down the stairs. Michael had asked to meet her before breakfast today.

He was waiting for her in a small room down the hall from the portrait hole, and he had a large bunch of daisies in his hands. She smiled happily at him. "Happy Valentine's Day!"

He grinned and handed her the flowers, "And to you, too." He leaned down and placed a kiss on her cheek. Ginny knew he wished she would give him a real kiss, but she had refused him so far. She just wasn't ready.

"Thank you for the flowers, they're lovely."

He smiled sheepishly at her. "I wanted to get you something nice, especially after I forgot to get you a Christmas present."

Ginny looked at him in confusion. "What do you mean you forgot?"

"Um… you noticed that I didn't get you anything, didn't you?"

"But you got me the…" she trailed off. She had just assumed the rose was from Michael. There hadn't been a name on the note; it had said _For the girl who has my heart_. She thought it was obvious. She looked up at Michael. "You didn't send me that rose for Christmas?"

He scratched the back of his head awkwardly. "Um… no. I forgot."

"Oh."

"It was just that… I wasn't even expecting you to go to the ball with me, and so I didn't think of it."

Her eyes scrunched up in confusion. "Of course I was going to the ball with you."

"Well, I hadn't ever really asked, we just assumed, and I heard that Harry had asked you. So when he didn't ask anyone else, I just assumed…"

"Oh."

"But I'm really glad you went with me instead. He's too moody for you."

She stared at him strangely. "He's only been moody this year. He's not normally like that."

"Then what changed that made him so moody now?"

She thought back carefully. "It didn't really start until…" She didn't finish the thought out loud. Harry hadn't started getting moody until she told him she was going out with Michael. "Oh."

Michael didn't seem to realize she was coming to some sort of realization. He continued, "I mean, I've known he's always liked you. Poor kid looks at you like you're his reason for existence. I'm glad you chose me instead."

Ginny stared at him as he spoke. Then she looked down at the flowers in her hands. She never really liked daisies much. She liked red roses, and there was this one kind that seemed to be the exact colour of her hair that she loved. It was the kind her glass rose was modeled after. It seemed strange to her that Michael didn't know that. Of course, he didn't know much about her. So much of her life was kept from everyone but Harry. With a strange look in her eye, she handed the flowers back to him.

"Ginny? What…" he looked at her in confusion.

"Do you know what my favorite colour is, Michael?"

He looked confused. "Um… red?"

She shook her head. It was green. Emerald green. "Do you know what my Patronus form is?"

"You have a Patronus form? That's fabulous! What is it? A cat?"

No, she thought, it was a rather small dragon. "When is my birthday?"

He looked sheepish again. "Sometime in the summer?"

She looked at him for several minutes in contemplation. "Why did you want to date me, Michael?"

"Because you're pretty."

She nodded. That seemed to be all he cared about. He didn't know anything about her, and yet she had spent the last several months with him instead of her best friend. She looked him right in the eye. "I want to break up."

She didn't wait for a response, only hurried out the door. She needed to talk to Hermione.

Ginny found the older witch at the breakfast table and grabbed her hand, pulling her behind her until they found an unused classroom.

"Ginny! Is everything all right?"

"Did Harry get you a Christmas present?"

"Of course. He always does."

"Did you get him one?"

"Yes. But…" Hermione hesitated. "I don't think he opened any of his Christmas gifts."

"What do you mean?"

"Ron said that when he woke up on Christmas morning, Harry was gone, and his presents were scattered across his bed, unopened. Then when Harry got back a few days later he just stuffed them all in his trunk. He told Ron he didn't get what he wanted and he wasn't interested in anything else."

Ginny's face fell. "I didn't send him anything," she whispered.

"Ginny! Why ever not?"

"I was sure he wouldn't get me one. He hasn't talked to me at all since he asked me to the ball. I… I thought…" she trailed off, looking at Hermione helplessly as tears ran down her face.

"Oh, Ginny, Harry loves you. Can't you see that?"

Ginny didn't answer. Instead, she burst into sobs and Hermione drew her into a tight hug. When her tears began to quiet down, Hermione pulled back and rubbed her back. "Why don't we go get you cleaned up? Then you can find Harry."

Ginny nodded and followed her friend up to Gryffindor tower. The two girls entered Ginny's dorm room to find a small basket sitting on her bed. Ginny went over and pulled back the top and let out a small gasp in surprise. She reached in and pulled out a tiny black kitten. She had to fight back more tears as the kitten blinked up at her with large emerald eyes.

"Oh!" Hermione gasped. "Is there a note."

Ginny looked back into the basket, discovering some cat food, toys, and other things. At the very bottom was a folded note. _Happy Valentine's Day, Gin. He can look after you since I can't be there._ Hugging her new kitten close to her, Ginny curled up on to her bed and cried.

For over a week, Ginny tried to find Harry. She invaded his dorm room early in the morning. She stayed up late at night in the common room. She even tried to be outside his classroom as often as possible. And although Hermione said he was in every one of his classes, Ginny never even saw him. The two girls decided he must be using his invisibility cloak to get everywhere, and he had to be sleeping somewhere else. Finally, desperate to talk to him, Ginny marched up to Dumbledore's office on the evening of the 23rd. It took her several minutes to guess the password, and then she climbed the stairs and knocked on the door.

"Come in, Miss Weasley." She opened the door cautiously. "You are early."

She looked at him in confusion. "Early for what?"

His eyes twinkled merrily. "You were not on your way up after speaking with Professor McGonagall?"

"No, I had a question." She wrung her hands. "I'm sorry to bother you, Headmaster, but do you know where Harry is?"

Dumbledore looked at her with sympathy in his eyes. "I have not seen him for quite some time."

"Oh." She collapsed into a chair. Then she seemed to think of something and looked back up. "Do you know how to get a hold of Sirius?"

He smiled gently. "Yes, I can ask him to come here to speak with you." Her face lit up. "After you talk with him, please return to my office. There is something I need your help with."

She looked confused, but nodded her acceptance. Dumbledore touched his wand to a strange device on his desk. It was only a few minutes later when Sirius Black stepped out of the fire place, looking slightly frantic.

"What is it this time, Albus? Is he missing again?"

Dumbledore smiled. "No, Sirius. I'm sorry to have worried you. Miss Weasley wishes to speak to you."

Sirius whipped around to look at Ginny. His worried face, which looked like he hadn't slept properly in quite some time, lifted into a genuine smile at the sight of her. "Ginny! It's great to see you. Did you need something?"

"Yes. Can we go somewhere and talk?"

"Sure." Sirius led her down the stairs and found an empty room. "What did you need?"

Ginny sat in an empty desk and twisted her hands together nervously. "Have you seen Harry recently?"

"Of course. I see him almost every day. Kid spends almost all his time with Remus and I training. I've never seen him work so hard."

She looked up hopefully. "Can you tell me where he is?"

"Not today. I wouldn't be able to find him today."

"Why?"

"If I know him, he's probably nervous about the task tomorrow and is holed up somewhere where no one can get to him." Her face fell. He looked at her carefully. "Why is it so important that you find him now? From what I understand, the two of you haven't been spending any time together recently."

Ginny looked up at him and burst into tears. Alarmed, Sirius rushed to her and gathered her into his arms.

"I'm sorry, Ginny. I didn't mean to upset you."

She cried for several minutes before she was able to speak again. Hiccupping slightly, she said, "I miss him so much, and it's all my fault. And now I don't know how to fix it and I can't find him." She put her head down on the desk and cried.

Sirius sat down beside her and his expression became serious. "Ginny, what do you mean?"

She raised her head to look at him. "I misunderstood and thought… I thought that he just wanted me there as a friend. And so I started dating Michael. And then I didn't understand when he asked me to the ball and I yelled at him. I didn't mean to… I just thought that he would never…"

"That he would never love you like you love him?"

She nodded miserably.

"Ginny, Harry has been in love with you since the moment he met you."

She stared at him in shock.

"He didn't know it at first, but he knows now."

"How long?" She asked quietly. "How long as he known?"

"Since Tom Riddle's diary tried to take you away from him." She gasped. "Remus and I tried to encourage him to say something, but he was convinced that you could never love him like he did you, and he didn't want to lose your friendship. He said your friendship was the most important thing in his life and it wasn't worth risking it."

Ginny's lip quivered as she looked up at him. "Is Harry the one who sent me the rose and the kitten?"

Sirius nodded. "He was so worried you wouldn't accept either if you knew who they were from. Said he had ruined everything."

"And the ball?" She asked in a quiet voice.

Sirius shook his head sadly. "He was convinced that if he asked you first maybe you might go with him. But then… he told me he didn't want to go and have to watch you dancing with someone else."

"Where was he? We looked everywhere."

"He was hiding up in the mountains. It took me forever to find him, and I couldn't convince him to change back out of his dragon form for a couple of days."

Ginny looked miserable. "Why didn't he say something to me?"

Sirius looked at her with an odd look in his eyes. "He did. He asked you to go to Hogsmeade with him, and then you cancelled at the last minute. He asked you to go to the ball with him, but you yelled at him. And then… you didn't get him anything for Christmas. He said it must mean you didn't even want to be his friend anymore."

Ginny looked devastated. "But I did! I did get him a present, only I wanted to give it to him myself… I was waiting in the common room for him all morning and he never came down."

Sirius looked at her sadly. "I think the two of you need to sit down together and talk about some things."

"I've tried! I've been trying to find him since Valentine's Day."

"But he hasn't wanted to be found."

"No, and I don't know what to do anymore."

"Ginny, Professor Dumbledore told you there was something he needed your help with, didn't he?"

She nodded.

"Tomorrow morning, the four Champions are going to be sent into the lake to retrieve the one person they would miss the most."

Ginny looked at him in confusion, until it dawned on her what Dumbledore wanted with her. "And Harry is supposed to find me."

"Yes."

"Even though I haven't even spoken to him in months."

"Kid still loves you."

Ginny smiled through her tears. "So he'll have to talk to me afterwards."

"Yes, he will. But you're going to have to be pretty convincing. Harry… he's in a pretty bad way right now. There is no life left in him and the only thing he cares about is training."

Ginny blinked back her tears. "Then I'll just have to convince him that I love him, and get him to hang around long enough to listen in the first place."

Sirius smiled at her. "Yes, you will, though the second one might not be as hard as you think."

* * *

Harry Potter stood by the side of the lake. It was the first time most of the student body had seen him in months, and many of the students were commenting on how ill he looked. His robes were hanging off his shoulders, his face looked haggard, and his eyes were desolate. But his wand was clenched determinedly in his hand. Ginny Weasley was at the bottom of the lake waiting for him, and he would not let anything happened to her. Even if she wasn't his. Sirius and Remus were both in the stands cheering him on. Sirius had been in a weird mood this morning, sending him secretive smiles and laughing at the oddest times. Harry ignored him.

When Bagman called time, Harry hastily stuffed the Gillyweed into his mouth and chewed it frantically. He felt an odd sensation come over him, and instinctively he dived into the water. He had looked up a propulsion charm last week, and this carried him deep into the lake at a very fast speed. He avoided the bottom of the lake, knowing there were Grindylows there, until he saw the first signs of merlife. Following the haunting song, he raced towards the center of the town where four figures were tied to large stone columns. He didn't even glance at the others, swimming straight towards the younger girl whose fiery red hair was floating in the water.

Pulling a knife out of the brace on his leg, he quickly cut her ropes, then holding her to him tightly he raced back up to the surface. He knew that he had plenty of time to get her to safety, as the chorus in the square told him that only twenty minutes had passed, but he didn't like the empty look in her eyes. It reminded him horribly of his Boggart. The minute Ginny's face broke the surface she began to blink awake. Harry was rather startled that she didn't look confused or upset. Rather, she looked immediately down at him as he hovered under the water (his gills would not wear off for another thirty minutes or so) and smiled sweetly. Confused by this reaction, Harry nonetheless began to swim for the shore, pulling Ginny along with him.

They were the first pair back, and after she had been handed a vial of Pepper-up by Madam Pomfrey, Ginny was instructed to watch over Harry as he sat in the shallow water. Ginny had smiled at the nurse and told her they would be just fine. Harry looked at her in confusion. She was acting like they used to, when she was still speaking with him. Ginny turned back to Harry in the water.

"Come on, Harry, we're going to go over that way a bit." She pointed away from the judges. Harry looked at her in confusion and shook his head. Rolling her eyes, Ginny waded back into the water, grabbed a hold of his arm, and began pulling him along behind her. When they were far enough away that they wouldn't be overheard, she stopped and let Harry go, sitting herself on a large rock by the lake right next to where he had come to rest. Harry looked at her in complete confusion.

"Very well, we have some things to talk about, Harry." Rolling his eyes, Harry pointed to his throat and quite clearly indicated that there was no way he could talk, being as he was underwater. "Yes, I know you can't talk yet. That just means you have to listen to me for a bit. But you can nod or shake your head." She paused and seemed to be gathering her thoughts. "Now, last summer when you were upset with Hermione, do you remember how you were mad at me for still talking to her?"

Harry nodded his head. He had no idea where this conversation was going. "Were you upset because you thought I was abandoning you by being friends with Hermione after what she said to you?" Harry's eyes went wide. Slowly, he nodded his head. "And there was that one time we were arguing because there were some things I wanted to talk to Hermione about and you didn't understand why I couldn't talk to you. Did you think it was because I thought your friendship wasn't enough for me?" Again, he nodded his head.

Ginny sighed. "Oh, Harry! That wasn't it at all!" He looked up at her with the most bewildered expression on his face. "I wanted Hermione around because she was a girl and I wasn't comfortable talking to you about boys. Sometimes, a girl just needs to be able to talk to another girl." His mouth formed a perfect O and she giggled at him.

"And then early last term, when we were planning our Hogsmeade trip," she watched as he flinched, but kept on going. "You thought you were asking me to go with you, didn't you?" He nodded. "And when I went with Michael instead…" Ginny trailed off as Harry's face fell and he looked away from her. "Harry, I didn't understand that. I thought we were just making plans as friends and that you would understand me wanting to go on a date instead. I didn't mean to make it seem like I was choosing him over you." He shrugged halfheartedly and refused to meet her gaze.

"And then you asked me to the ball. It wasn't just as friends, was it?" Very slowly, Harry shook his head. "Oh, Harry! Why didn't you say something!" He shrugged his shoulders and looked determinedly at his feet. "I thought… I thought you just didn't like me spending time with anyone else and wanted to keep me from Michael. And that you just wanted an easy date that you didn't have to do anything for." Harry's eyes shot up to hers and he frantically shook his head no. She reached up and wiped her tears away, and Harry stared at her. "And then you gave me that beautiful rose, and thought I didn't get you anything." Harry looked at her in confusion again. "I did get you something, Harry, but I wanted to give it to you myself. I waited downstairs all morning for you, but you never came." His eyes grew wide as he looked at her.

Ginny reached up and pulled down the neck of her robes revealing two matching necklaces about her neck. Both were intricate Celtic knots on leather cords. "I hated the way we seemed to be drifting apart. You hadn't answered me on our parchments even though I had tried several times, and so I got these. They're the Celtic symbol for eternal friendship, and I spelled them so that we can talk to each other through them. I thought it might help us fix things." Harry blinked furiously before bringing both hands up and scrubbing at his eyes. "I didn't know the rose was from you. Michael forgot to get me a gift, and so I assumed it was from him. The note… I didn't think there was any way that could be from you. It wasn't until Valentine's Day that I learned it wasn't his."

Ginny looked down at her hands as Harry continued to stare at her. "I broke up with him. The only thing he liked about me was that I was pretty. He knows nothing about me, and he didn't seem to care to find anything out. But he helped me see how I had been so blind." She looked up and met his gaze. "I've been trying to find you ever since to talk to you and fix things. But it's like you weren't even in the castle." Harry looked down guiltily. "Do you know, I even went and asked Dumbledore, and he had Sirius come to the castle and talk to me?"

Harry looked up in shock. "He explained some things to me last night, and we figured out how everything had just been a bunch of mistakes. And then he told me what was going to happen today, and I knew that I had to get you to understand." Ginny wrung her hands nervously before continuing. "I've been in love with you for almost four years, Harry Potter." Harry's mouth fell open in shock as he stared at her. "And I'm fairly certain that you love me, too."

He nodded his head so fast it was almost comical, and Ginny giggled slightly. "So we're agreed? Never again are we going to let anything come in between us?" Again, he was nodding furiously. "Good. Then there is only one thing left to do." Harry looked at her curiously as she stood up and walked carefully towards him. She waded out into the water, took a large breath of air, then sat down in his lap and pressed her lips to his.

At that moment, Ginny was very glad that she never let Michael kiss her, because she couldn't imagine having experienced this with anyone else. She wrapped her arms tightly around his neck, and kissed him repeatedly until Harry seemed to snap out of his daze. He encircled her waist with his arms and kissed her again. They discovered an amazing use for gills: they allow you to kiss for a rather long period of time without taking any time to breathe. Ginny's mouth opened underneath his, and he pushed air into her as they kissed again and again.

On the shore above them, Sirius Black stood happily looking down on the couple. His face was beaming, as he was confident that Harry would once more be himself. Sometimes, things did work out all right in the end.

* * *

A/N: I am so sorry! I know it has been absolutely ages since I updated this story. I knew exactly how I wanted things to go in this chapter, but it was so hard for me to write the angst. So I hope you enjoyed it finally.

I know it seems that Harry is being a moody brat in this chapter, and Ginny is flying of the handle about things, but there is a very good reason for that. We'll discover some interesting things next chapter (and hopefully it won't take me six months to write it!).

Since the last time I updated, I've started two new stories when I could seem to get this one to work. One is called Harry Potter and Godric's Legacy and is a super Harry story with a manipulative Dumbledore. He didn't tell Harry the right prophecy, and Harry takes matters into his own hands with the help of Ginny. The other is called Elemental Harry and starts with Harry and Ginny receiving control over an element. Please check them out.


	17. A Lord Reborn

Luna Lovegood had been watching her friend Ginny Weasley for a number of years. She knew that Ginny was in love with Harry Potter, and she also knew that Ginny seemed oblivious to the fact that Harry returned these feelings. Luna had known they would eventually end up together, however, and hadn't wanted to interfere, as it wasn't her style. She always liked to sit back and watch things unfold instead of actively participate in them, as that was the only way to be able to see everything that was going on clearly. This was an opinion she had almost changed numerous times over the last school year, however, as she watched her friend struggle. Luna hated to see those she cared about in pain.

Luna knew that Ginny's feelings had intensified last year, and as a result she watched as her friend pulled away from Harry out of embarrassment and insecurity. Harry had not reacted well to this. He took her distance to mean that she didn't care for him. And it just got worse from there. Luna was the only one who had seen the expression on Harry's face when Ginny blew him off for the first Hogsmeade visit. He looked like a man burning alive. Things had been tense between Harry and Ginny ever since and this baffled Luna. It made little sense to her why exactly Ginny had reacted with so much anger; it was very unlike her. And Harry had seemed to lose all will to live; Luna had never seen him give up so easily before.

It was baffling.

Things had gotten better after the First Task, until the day that Ginny came hunting her down in a terrible rage, screaming that Harry was the world's biggest prat. Luna couldn't understand why when the guy of her dreams had asked her to the ball, Ginny had responded with anger and resentment. It was then that Luna had almost stepped in, for she hated seeing Ginny so unhappy over something that seemed to be a misunderstanding. But that was not Luna's style. So, instead, she sat back and watched, and began thinking.

It seemed fairly obvious that some force was at work here, causing both Harry and Ginny to act unlike themselves. But she couldn't seem to figure out what it was.

Luna had let out a quiet sigh of relief when Harry and Ginny had emerged from the depths of the lake. It had been obvious to her over the last several days, despite Harry's continued depression, that Ginny had snapped out of whatever it was. Luna didn't really have many friends, and for the last several years Ginny had been largely occupied in various things revolving around Harry, but Ginny still took time to speak to her fairly regularly. As such, she very much wanted her friend to be happy. And it was very evident to Luna that Ginny could only ever be happy if Harry was by her side.

Luna watched as Ginny dragged Harry off for a long overdue talk, and then as Ginny threw herself at him. And Luna watched as the water and the air around them rippled. It had been a very long time since she had seen such a thing; she would have to have a talk with Ginny. Soon.

* * *

"Ginny?" The redhead, who was currently sitting with Harry's arm comfortably around her waist, turned from her dinner with a large smile on her face.

"Luna! How are you?"

Luna smiled brightly; Ginny's enthusiasm had always been infectious. "Excellent! The Headmaster gave me permission to harvest wild moon flowers this month."

"Moon flowers? What do they do?" Hermione interjected.

Luna had never liked Hermione too terribly much; her mind was much too close minded and literal. And she often spoke in a condescending tone which grated on Luna's nerves. "If harvested on the 17th day of the lunar cycle, they prevent the spread of the dreadful Marilin virus."

Hermione opened her mouth, presumably to ask about the virus, and then shut it with a snap, evidently deciding that it was better not to ask. Luna suppressed her mirth. There was no such virus, of course, but it was so much fun to tease Hermione. It's not like she could tell everyone what she wanted the flowers for; no one besides the Headmaster knew of her heritage.

"That's wonderful, Luna."

"Yes, I'm quite looking forward to it." Luna met Ginny's gaze head on. "I was wondering if I could speak with you tonight."

"Sure, what about?"

"Not here."

"Okay. The usual place?"

"Yes please." Luna turned to leave, but then paused and turned back. "It might be best to bring Harry with you."

Ginny looked confused but didn't comment. Luna made her way out of the Great Hall and to a little used corridor on the third floor. There was a lovely little room there that she and Ginny liked to use when they spoke. She knew that Ginny's natural curiosity would cause her to come quickly. And, indeed, it was only a few minutes later that Ginny appeared leading a bewildered Harry by the hand. Luna greeted them with a smile and gestured to the couch opposite her own chair.

"Is something the matter?" Ginny asked once they were seated.

"Oh, not at all! I need to discuss something rather important with you, is all."

"Okay."

Luna looked them each carefully in the eye. "I see that you have resolved your misunderstandings."

Ginny blushed and Harry ducked his head.

"Excellent! I must say, I was rather confused by the tension between you this year. Neither of you were behaving as your normal selves."

Ginny shot Harry a look. His head was still bowed and his free hand was clenched in a tight fist. She knew that he was undoubtedly blaming everything on himself again. She really needed to cure him of that habit.

"I'm sorry that I wasn't able to see why. It could have saved you much pain."

Harry's head shot up. "What do you mean? Something was causing us to behave abnormally?"

"Oh, yes."

They looked at each other in complete confusion before returning their attention to Luna.

"So which one of you is a dragon?" She asked calmly.

Luna's eyes twinkled merrily as Ginny gaped in shock and Harry sputtered out a pathetic attempt at denial.

"It thought it was Harry, especially after the First Task." Luna looked directly at him. "Are you aware that dragons mate for life?"

"Um, yes."

"And that they share a magical connection with their mates?"

"Um, no, not really."

Luna shook her head. "You really should know these things. They apply to you, too, now. Anyway, I witnessed your bond form in completion when you kissed after the Second Task."

"Um, how do you know we formed a bond?" Ginny asked hesitantly.

"My mother and I share a very uncommon gift. I see many such things," Luna answered simply. She could say no more. She met Ginny's gaze calmly, and was relieved that Ginny was one of the few people she knew who would accept that and not push for more. Ginny knew that if she could have said more she would have.

"And what exactly is this bond?" Harry asked.

"Well, obviously you can only be happy together. That is why you fell so quickly into depression last year, Harry. Your mind thought Ginny no longer cared for you and so it mostly shut down." She paused with a thoughtful expression. "I don't understand Ginny's anger, though. Dragons usually grow despondent without their mate, not angry."

"Well, I'm not a dragon."

"Of course you aren't. But I just assumed Harry's form was influencing you both." Luna looked at Ginny carefully. "You're an animagus as well, aren't you?" Ginny nodded. "I would guess something fierce, then."

"Yes, I'm a griffin."

Luna's eyes widened in shock. "Well, that would explain it."

"Explain what?"

"Everything. Griffins are related to dragons, so the bond is coming from both of you. In addition, griffins are naturally fierce and aggressive when threatened, as you have been. It might also explain why you are so drawn to each other. Both are notorious for guarding their treasure. You two are equally inclined to guard each other. Harry, you are the hero of the wizarding world, and I have no doubt that our safety will soon rest in your care. Ginny, you are Harry's motivation to fight, and hence of even more significance." Luna was amused as both her friends blushed brightly. "But I got distracted. You should cultivate this bond. It is said that a dragon always knows when their mate is in trouble; that could be a useful ability to develop. You must also be careful never again to strain your bond. I fear it very nearly snapped this year. If that had happened, we would have lost both of you."

Luna did not wait for a reply, simply standing primly and leaving the room. She left behind a thoroughly startled couple. It was several long and silent minutes before either said anything.

Harry looked over at Ginny, his expression guarded and wary. "Ginny? Are you okay?"

She shook her head and seemed to come out of a daze. "Of course. Why wouldn't I be?"

He shrugged sheepishly. "She just told us that we are going to be together for life, and that if we ever do separate it will destroy us. That doesn't scare you?"

Her large brown eyes stared at him. "Nothing sounds better than being with you for the rest of my life."

He breathed a sigh of relief. "I'm glad."

"Did you honestly thing that would upset me?"

"I don't know. I didn't want you to feel like you didn't have a choice about this."

Her hand came up to cup his cheek, and he turned into it. "I love you, Harry Potter, and I have no problem with the idea that I always will."

He beamed. "And I, you, Ginny."

"Good." She grinned. "Now what do you think this bond means?"

He shrugged. "I don't know. I like the idea that we'll know if either of us is in trouble."

"Me, too." She paused and stared off, lost in thought. "Do you think this explains some of the things that have happened to us?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, the time you destroyed the diary. I always thought it was weird how angry you got about that."

Harry tensed, and his eyes flashed to cold flint. "That… that bastard tried to hurt you. I wasn't going to let that happen."

"Precisely. And my animagus form. In my vision your phoenix is what changed me into a griffin, remember?"

"Yes." He hesitated before continuing. "And your lion reduced the evil influence of Voldemort."

She looked up, startled. "You never mentioned there was a lion in your vision."

"I was too embarrassed, and didn't want to have to put up with more teasing from Sirius. He already wouldn't leave me alone about you."

Ginny smiled and scooted closer to him, burrowing into his side as his arm came around her. They sat in silence, content to hold each other, both thinking happily about the fact that they were apparently meant for each other. It was a comforting thought.

* * *

_Excerpt from the Nature of Dragons, by Florian Feumore:_

_Very little is known about the dragon culture, though it has been obvious for centuries that if left to themselves they would have a very clearly defined society. The most that researchers have been able to discover is the rather unusual bond that exists between dragon mates. Like many species, dragons mate for life, however this means something different to them than it does to us. If a dragon loses its mate, it falls into a lethargy so profound it starves to death. If a pair of mates is separated for a significant amount of time, this lethargy will result even without the death of one of the dragons. In addition, a dragon always knows when their mate is in need of help, and they can invariably locate them immediately in these circumstances. Many times, I have witnessed a dragon grow frantic and take flight. When I followed it, I arrived just moments before its mate was injured. Somehow, the dragon knew before it was even needed. We have no idea how this need is communicated, however. Indeed, we know nothing of the dragon means of communication. _

_It is obvious that they do communicate, as they can work together quite ably, but they have very few vocalizations. Even attempts to catalogue their body language did not reveal enough to understand them. We remain woefully ignorant of even this most basic fact of our fiery friends._

_Nonetheless, it is clear that dragon mates have a rather unique bond between them. I was once witness to a misguided wizard who got in the way of this bond. By the time the pair was done with him, there was nothing left to return to his family. A similar bond can be seen between a mother dragon and her young, though it is not nearly as strong. _

_Even more important than never tickling a sleeping dragon, never get between a dragon and the love of its life. _

* * *

The second half of the term was vastly different than the first. Harry was still worried about the Tournament, and whoever had entered his name, and he was still worried about Voldemort. His training did not let up, though he was once more joined by Ginny for most of it. He still had to put up with most of the occupants of the castle casting him odd glances and whispering as he passed. But none of this mattered to him anymore. Ginny was once more by his side, and Harry could not contain his joy at this. They spent all the time they could together, only reluctantly separating when they had to go to class. Most of their time was spent studying or training, but Ginny still managed to drag him off into the occasional broom cupboard, and Harry was never one to object.

They were unable to determine any more about this strange bond between them, aside from what Luna already revealed. Sirius was of the opinion that it might have other properties, but they probably wouldn't be able to figure them out until they were needed. Something about stressful situations forcing things to be revealed.

In early April Ron managed to complete his animagus transformation, and for several nights a large grey wolf could be seen running through the forest with a black dog by his side. They even managed to convince Hermione to finally take the potion to discover her own form, a small brown kneazle with an abnormally bushy tail.

* * *

Before Ginny was aware, she found herself watching anxiously as Harry walked out to the Quidditch pitch for the Third Task. His training had not changed much in the last month, since finding out what he was about to face. Sirius and Remus had taught him a couple direction finding spells, but mostly they thought the training he had already undergone was more than adequate to prepare him and just carried on as normal. Still, Harry was nervous and jittery as he kissed Ginny on the cheek and squared his shoulders before stepping into the space before the maze where the other champions were gathering. Ginny headed up into the crowd and towards the rather large group of people there to cheer Harry on. Bill had joined her parents for this event, as well as Sirius and Remus. Neville's grandmother was also sitting with them, as well as Luna's father. Ginny took her seat between Bill and her mother, her hands reaching for both of them as she sat down. She knew that Harry had worked hard to be ready for this, but it still made her incredibly nervous to be there and unable to help him.

She watched as Harry headed into the maze first, her hands tightening around her mother's and Bill's. The crowd around her was loud and boisterous as they waited excitedly for one of the champions to win. The walls of the maze were so high that no one could see anything that was happening, besides the occasional light of a spell. She did, however, have a much better idea about what was going on than the rest of the spectators, as she was fairly confident in her ability to pinpoint Harry's location. She watched carefully as he moved steadily towards the centre of the maze, her breath catching as his location corresponded with the first shower of red sparks.

She drew in a ragged breath when Professor Moody came out of the maze with Fleur levitated in front of him instead of Harry.

The anxious wait continued until another shower of sparks illuminated the space above the maze. This time, it was Victor Krum who was helped out of the maze, limping as blood spilled down from a massive wound on his left leg. She felt Bill wince next to her and looked up at him briefly.

"Hope that doesn't affect his game…" he murmured.

Ginny chuckled weakly before her eyes shot back to the maze. Not even Quidditch was enough to pull her attention away from Harry tonight.

She had no idea how much time had passed when a loud gong sounded through the stands. It felt like Harry was near the centre of the maze, and she smiled with relief. It was done, and he had won.

Ginny collapsed, screaming, when Harry's presence abruptly left the area. She saw as Dumbledore's eyes shot towards her and widened in shock before he jumped to his feet and waved his wand. The maze shrunk into the ground, and her eyes locked on the centre of the maze where a large table sat, empty. Cedric was some distance away, standing before what looked like a sphinx.

Harry was nowhere to be found.

Ginny screamed again, and started shaking. Fear shot through her, fear that was stronger than her own. "Harry!"

Her eyes were frantically searching the bottom of the pitch, looking for him everywhere despite the fact that she knew he wasn't there, when everything went hazy for a split second. She blinked in shock. She could have sworn she just saw a graveyard with a large mansion on a hill overlooking it. Ginny shook her head to clear it, and resumed her searching.

It took her several minutes to realize that the frantic screams she heard were coming from her.

She collapsed back against Bill in shock, and her vision wavered once more. A large black cauldron, bubbling smoke, with a pale figure rising out of it. Again, fear and panic shot through her that were not her own.

She frantically tore herself out of Bill's arms and started pushing her way down to where Professor Dumbledore was waving his wand quickly over the now empty table in the centre of the pitch. The confusion of the crowd meant that she had to fight for nearly every step, and her panic built with each minute that went by. Near the bottom of the stairs, she stumbled against the wall as her vision swam once more. A fierce spell fight and figures circling in black.

Ginny ran blindly for several seconds, unwilling to wait until she could see the pitch before her to continue her way. She sprinted towards Dumbledore, her breath coming in ragged pants as she ignored the ache in her side. When she was still about twenty feet away from the centre of the pitch, she gave a cry of joy as the familiar feeling of Harry's presence came back to her. She launched herself at him before he even came into sight, and tackled him to the ground.

Harry's arms came up and crushed her to him, holding her so tightly she could barely breathe. She could feel him shaking underneath her, but whether it was from panic, relief, or pain she couldn't tell. For endless minutes that weren't long enough she held him before they both became aware of the elderly headmaster who was kneeling by their side and trying to get their attention.

"Harry? What happened?"

Ginny scooted down slightly and rested her head on Harry's chest so that he could turn to face Dumbledore. Her hands crept under the back of his shirt so she could feel his bare skin.

"Voldemort... he's back," Harry spoke quietly. His voice was raw.

Dumbledore's jaw dropped in shock before he regained his composure. "I am sorry to ask this of you, but I must know what happened."

Harry shut his eyes briefly before nodding. Ginny climbed off of him, rather reluctantly, before hauling him to his feet. This seemed a rather precarious perch, and so she wrapped a supporting arm around his waist as they made their way back to the school. As they walked, they were joined by many with anxious faces. The Weasleys and Hermione were there immediately, and Sirius came up to Harry's other side and helped Ginny support him. McGonagall, Moody, and Snape had also joined the procession.

No one spoke until the door closed, shutting them all into Dumbledore's tower office. Ginny guided Harry into an armchair by the fire, and curled up against his side, his hand firmly clasped in her own. When Harry finally started speaking, it was in a detached voice, and he kept his eyes firmly trained on the ground. Only Ginny, who could feel every time he tensed when he would squeeze her hand, could tell how much this was costing him.

"The cup was a portkey. It brought me to a graveyard, where Malfoy was waiting for me, along with a large cauldron. Once I got there, we fought for awhile. I think I was about to win when this little elf came and snapped his fingers, throwing me into a tombstone. They tied me up, and then began brewing a potion. They took bones out of the grave beneath me, some of my blood, and then Wormtail was there. He cut off his own hand. The elf was holding this child like _thing_. It was deformed and just... messed up. They put it in the cauldron, and Voldemort stepped out. He got his body back. He called all his Death Eaters, and then we fought."

Ginny let out a quiet sob and pushed closer to him.

"How did you get away, Harry?" Dumbledore asked softly.

"The elf. He looked miserable, and Malfoy kept on hitting him. During the duel with Voldemort I sent that strangulation spell Hermione found for me, the one where your own robes attack you. It hit Malfoy instead, and he ripped them off of him. The elf caught them, never seen anyone dive for something so fast before. Then he was free, and he helped me get out."

"Where is he now?"

Harry shrugged. "I told him thank you, and to come see me if he couldn't find a place to stay. His name was Dobby; he told me that it was him who had entered my name in the Goblet, on Malfoy's orders."

Dumbledore nodded. "Are you hurt?"

"Not really. A little banged up and tired, but I'll be fine. I just want to sleep."

"I imagine so. Thank you for telling us, Harry."

"What does this mean, Dumbledore?" Arthur Weasley asked quietly. "Will Fudge even take our word for it that he is back?"

"No, probably not."

"So we don't give him the choice," Sirius growled.

Dumbledore turned to him. "How do you mean?"

"I've got a friend that works for the Prophet. We pull a few strings, and have them print Harry's story."

"But we have no proof, Sirius." Harry spoke up quietly.

"Sure we do. You were there; you saw everything. We can do a memory preserving charm and print the pictures. There's no way Fudge will be able to talk his way out of that."

Harry still didn't look convinced, and Ginny had a feeling she knew why. She reached her free hand up and caressed his face. "You don't want to have to tell the story again, do you?"

His eyes shot down to hers. Slowly, he shook his head.

"But you will, because you telling everyone the truth with make sure they prepare, because you telling your story will ensure that everyone is more careful, and because you wouldn't be the man I loved if you didn't."

He blinked his eyes as they swam with tears, but he nodded his agreement.

* * *

_You-Know-Who is Back!_

_We at the Prophet feel it is our duty to inform the public that the wizard commonly known as You-Know-Who has returned, and we learned about this from the only witnesses to the event who are not followers of the Dark Lord. Yesterday afternoon I had the great pleasure of sitting down with Harry Potter, the Boy-Who-Lived, and his girlfriend Ginevra Weasley, youngest child of Ministry employee Arthur Weasley, along with Harry's godfather, Sirius Black. Harry was obviously distressed to be speaking of this, but he told me that it was his responsibility to make sure that everyone knew the truth so that they could better protect themselves. _

_Harry began his story nearly a year ago. At the start of term feast in September, Harry was the one who recognized that Alastor Moody was not who he claimed to be. Professor Dumbledore was able to apprehend Barty Crouch, Jr. who was under a Polyjuice potion, and return him to Azkaban. Crouch had installed himself in the school in an attempt to kidnap Harry. Unfortunately, another was found to carry on his plans when he failed. Harry told me how he was astonished when his name came out of the Goblet of Fire, as he had not entered the Triwizard Tournament. It wasn't until recently that he learned the truth. Lucius Malfoy, who has previously been cleared of being a Death Eater, sent his house elf to enter Harry's name into the Goblet. And then, two days ago, Lucius changed the Triwizard Cup into a portkey that kidnapped Harry just as he won the tournament. _

_Harry had brought the little elf with him, and I had the rather unusual experience of interviewing him. It was obvious to me that the poor elf had been severely abused in the Malfoy home. He cried as he described how this was the second time he had been privy to Malfoy's plots against Harry. The first being nearly three years ago and nearly resulted in the opening of the Chamber of Secrets at Hogwarts once more. _

_When Harry was taken two nights ago, he found himself in a rather rundown cemetery in the village of Greater Hangleton, near the ancestral home of Tom Riddle. Riddle, Harry informed me, was You-Know-Who's father. I was shocked to learn that Riddle was a Muggle who married Merope Gaunt, descendent of Salazar Slytherin. There, Harry's blood was forcibly taken and used in a Dark ritual which returned You-Know-Who to his body. Then, Harry witnessed as You-Know-Who summoned his Death Eaters. I was shocked to learn that so many had escaped punishment after the end of the last war. The full list of those present is given below for the public's information, along with details of their suspected crimes and trials. _

_It was then that You-Know-Who made a grave mistake. He freed Harry. In his ignorance, he wished to defeat Harry, and so they fought. Harry would not tell me much about this duel, but the fact that he made it out alive, and relatively unscathed, must speak for itself. There is also the fact that the house elf Dobby clapped in excitement as he described how awe inspiring the fight was. It was in the course of this fight that Harry was inadvertently responsible for Dobby's freedom from the Malfoy family. This turned out to be rather fortunate, as it was the elf's unique magic that helped Harry to escape._

_I asked Harry why they had come to me, instead of reporting these facts to the Minister of Magic. Harry shifted uncomfortably and refused to answer, but his godfather spoke up quite enthusiastically. He explained how he wasn't convinced that the Minister would even believe them, let alone tell the public about it. _

_I will not comment on this opinion, but I must admit that after seeing the images they brought, I have little doubt about the truth of their story. Harry tentatively offered to let me view his memory of the event, but the fear on his face as he offered made me decline. Anything that could make a boy who has four times faces You-Know-Who, by his own admission, that frightened was not something I wanted to witness. (For further details on the previous encounters Harry had with You-Know-Who, see page 5, 7, and 9). Instead, I viewed the numerous pictures they brought for me, which had been developed from Harry's memories. All were rather disturbing, some horrifyingly so. The ones I chose to include were on the mild end, but they show the truth. _

_You-Know-Who is alive and among us once more. Protect yourselves and your families as best you can._

* * *

A/N: This chapter was horribly difficult for me to write. The problem with writing stories where I am redoing so much of canon is that I need to write scenes that we all know very well, and I am only changing a few things. Finally, I came to the conclusion that it was just better to _not _try and write the maze and graveyard scene, hence why we got it from Ginny's POV. I have a pretty good idea of what I want to happen in Harry's fifth year, and the war is definitely started for good now. Hopefully it won't take as long this time.

To answer questions before you ask them: Harry and Ginny are not soul bonded in this story. They will not be able to speak mind-to-mind, and they won't generally share emotions or senses. They can send images to each other, but just images, and usually only under extreme duress. Also, they are more _aware_ of each other. The bond comes from their animagus form, it is not anything else.


End file.
